Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are emerging as developing Asia's main policy tool for handling the region's excess foreign exchange reserves. SWFs represent a strategic shift of excess reserves from low-risk, low-return investments to high-risk, high-return investments, and are subject to a wide...

It has been argued that the adverse impact of skilled versus unskilled labor migration can be mitigated or even offset by the fact that skilled migrants remit more than unskilled ones. This paper contributes to the much debated and so far unresolved related issue of whether remittances actually...

This paper examines the links between ownership, innovation, and exports in electronics firms in three late-industrializing developing countries (People's Republic of China, Thailand, and Philippines), drawing on recent developments in applied international trade and innovation and learning....

C. Peter Timmer writes about the causes of high food prices, focusing on staple grains - rice in particular - and edible oils. He shows that although food prices have come down from the spikes of early 2008, they are likely to remain higher than they were in early 2007 for years to come. The...

This paper identifies inadequate effort to use market-based approaches, among others, as a reason for limited progress in arresting continuing environmental degradation in the Asia and Pacific region. Quoting examples, the paper asserts that markets can be created for ecosystem protection and...

Global energy security relies heavily on exhaustible fossil fuels, whose use contributes significantly to global environmental problems. The recent unprecedented rise in oil prices and the threat of global warming highlight the urgent need for solutions to the energy and environment problem....

Overlapping free trade agreements (FTAs) have given rise to hub-and-spoke FTAs that may promote trade by giving an export advantage to the FTA hub country. We empirically investigate the effect of hub-and-spoke FTAs on trade using panel data consisting of 99 countries and covering the period...

The European Union (EU) became the largest single market for clothing imports in 2007, surpassing the United States (US). This paper examines the competitive position of suppliers from developing Asia in the expanded EU clothing market relative to other non-EU suppliers, including those...

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the People's Republic of China are economic partners as well as economic competitors. The ASEAN– People's Republic of China Free Trade Area (ACFTA), which is set to come into effect around 2010, is designed to boost trade between the two...