WSJ reports:
A recent study by Wei Sun, an economics graduate student at the University of
California-Santa Barbara, found that “hai gui” venture capitalists in China
proved to be less productive and less successful than their Chinese-educated
peers. The opportunity costs of losing “guanxi” while abroad and being trained
overseas proved to be too different from the demands of the Chinese market. But
Ms. Sun suggests that with enough governmental support to incentivize young
people to return to China with greater human capital, “hai guis” have an
opportunity to further contribute to a flourishing Chinese economy.
“I think all the money invested for an American education is worth it, I feel
like they have accumulated better human capital, but I think in the long run
it’s better for China, even if it might take longer for those students and
parents to get the return on their investment,” Ms. Sun says. “But they are
going to be successful in the long run.”
