Poverty reduction in the Asia and the Pacific region in 2005-2008 had been quite significant. Despite the global crisis, an estimated 150 million people exited extreme poverty by 2008 – from 903.4 million in 2005 to 753.5 million, bringing the percentage of people living under the $1.25 per...

The purpose of this paper is to inform the contemporary policy debate on promoting trade among developing countries (South-South trade) by analyzing trade patterns of developing Asian economies from a comparative global perspective. The paper begins with a stage-setting historical overview of...

Using data from more than 6,000 manufacturing firms in India for 1996-2008, we investigate the impact of financial constraints on the exporting behavior of Indian manufacturing firms while also focusing on the link between exchange rate movement and exports. We find that there is a strong degree...

This study examines the differences in the effectiveness of de jure capital restrictions across economies in different regions (Asia versus non-Asia) and with varying income levels. It uses a panel of 45 economies over the period 1995-2007. The results show that differences in regional and...

The central objective of this paper is to empirically evaluate the degree of linkages among East Asian equity and bond markets. The primary contribution of our paper to the empirical literature is that we use a financial gravity model grounded in economic theory. Using data from the...

This study examines the impact of capital controls using monthly information to construct higher-frequency, quarterly indexes for Malaysia during the period 2000–2008 and Thailand over the period 2000–2010 in a vector auto-regression model. The results show that restrictions in Thailand have...

With a strong recovery from the global crisis, the Philippines' policy focus will shift again to a long-term development agenda. Despite favorable initial conditions, the Philippines' long-term growth performance has been disappointing. Over the decades, the economy has suffered from high...

A more integrated global financial system has implications on the economic volatility of small open economies. This paper simulates the impact of a short term shock originating from the global financial system on small open economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The...

This paper investigates the channels through which the middle class may matter for consumption growth and development. Determinants of the size and the growth of the middle class are also examined. Using several different middle class measures and a panel of 72 developing countries spanning the...

The global economic crisis sent world trade volume and world production into retreat and threatened a second Great Depression. There has emerged a consensus that global imbalances – fundamentally reflected in the over-reliance upon the United States (US) consumer market – that built up over...