Decentralization of decision making is among the most intriguing recent school reforms, in part because countries went in opposite directions over the past decade and because prior evidence is inconclusive. We suggest that autonomy may be conducive to student achievement in well-developed...

Population aging is a global phenomenon but what sets Asia apart is the sheer scale and speed of its aging. Pension systems will have to play a bigger role but in most Asian countries pension systems are still underdeveloped, fragmented, and poorly financed. Asian countries need to embark on...

The economy of the Republic of Korea was hit harder than anticipated by the global financial crisis. In the first phase, large capital outflows led to a severe liquidity strain in the foreign exchange market resulting in a rapid depreciation of the exchange rate. Then, in the second phase, the...

The maturing of the manufacturing sector in many Asian countries, combined with the relative backwardness of its service sector, has made service sector development a top priority for developing Asia. Our central objective is to broadly survey and analyze the current landscape of the region’s...

The collapse of trade during the great recession of 2008–2009 has raised the question of whether the rise of global value chains (GVCs) has increased or accelerated the international transmission of business cycle shocks. In this paper, we empirically investigate two channels through which a...

This study identifies the key issues involved in the further development and deepening of financial markets in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). For the smaller ASEAN countries, the first priority is the development of the banking system. In the larger ASEAN+3 economies,...

In the wake of recent food price spikes, plus growing demands for food in emerging Asia and for biofuels in Europe and the United States, governments are reexamining their strategies for dealing with both short-term and long-term food security concerns. This paper argues that long-run trends in...

Adverse foreign output shocks have a sizable impact on the welfare of small open economies. Therefore, one of the key roles of monetary policy in those economies is to minimize the welfare losses arising from such shocks. To assess the welfare impact of external shocks under different monetary...

Private investment in Malaysia has never fully recovered from the impact of the Asian financial crisis (AFC). Both domestic and foreign investment have remained lackluster post-AFC; while foreigners continue to shun Malaysia, it seems even domestic investors are fleeing as well, with Malaysia...

The newly independent Timor-Leste has established itself as one of the fastest growing economies in Asia and the Pacific. A concentration of economic activity in the capital has, however, raised the concern that the better off members of society are capturing most of the benefits. This study...