Using unique data from a Japanese survey, this paper examines whether flexible work arrangements targeted specifically at workers with caregiving responsibilities under the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act help family caregivers reconcile paid work with care provision. The regression results...

The authors empirically examine the determinants of remittance flows at the cross-country level. They consider, among other things, the significance of the level of migration, the education level of migrants, and financial sector development in determining remittances. Given the potential...

The main objective of this paper is to provide an ex-ante assessment of the poverty and income distribution impacts of the Central American Free Trade Area agreement on Nicaragua. The authors use a general equilibrium macro model to simulate trade reform scenarios and estimate their price...

This paper examines the determinants of remittance behavior for Vietnam using data from the 2004 Vietnam Migration Survey on internal migrants. It considers how, among other things, the vulnerability of a migrant's life at the destination, their link to relatives back home, and the time spent at...

The COVID-19 situation has accelerated the adoption of e-commerce across the world. While, globally, there has been an increase in the share of e-commerce in total retail sales, there are variations in e-commerce adoption across countries and the difference is obtrusive when one compares...

Financial literacy is gaining increasing importance as a policy objective in many countries. A growing literature has examined the role of financial literacy in an individual's income, saving behavior, and the use of various financial products. However, so far, we are not aware of any studies of...

Ever since the occurrence of the first oil shock, which struck the Japanese economy in 1973, Japan has made efforts to increase its energy efficiency, reduce its energy intensity, decrease its dependence on fossil fuels, and diversify its energy basket by introducing alternative energy sources,...

An energy resource as a production input plays a major role in various economic sectors, including commodity production, transportation, and electricity generation. However, increased energy consumption may lead to more air pollution, resulting in negative health impacts in a society. The main...

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus and the resulting falls in demand due both to uncertainty and policy interventions such as lockdowns, "social distancing", and travel restrictions are having a severe impact on Asian economies and hence on Asian households. These negative impacts come through a...

This paper provides an overview of productivity development and other related indicators in Asian-Pacific (APAC) countries, with comparisons with the Europe region. We use the seventh vintage firm-level data from the Productivity Research Network in the APAC region and CompNet in Europe for our...