Unemployment and underemployment are the most pressing problems in Asia today, which is reflected in the widespread underutilization rate of about 29% of the total labor force. In addition to the fact that most of the labor force in developing countries cannot afford to be completely unemployed,...

Agricultural trade barriers remain prevalent among developing countries. Three important questions arise from this fact. First, is there any justifiable reason for agricultural protection in developing countries? Second, what are the effects of farm trade liberalization that might result from...

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...

This paper examines the relationships between economic growth, income distribution, and poverty for 17 Asian countries for the period 1981–2001. First, it investigates how much growth is required to offset the adverse effect of an increase in inequality on poverty. This trade-off between...

Developing Asia is embracing inclusive growth as a key development goal in response to rising inequalities and increasing concern that these could undermine the very sustainability of Asia's growth. This paper argues that inclusive growth emphasizes creation of and equal access to opportunities;...

This paper examines patterns and determinants of exports in nine East and Southeast Asian economies, with an emphasis on the increasing important role of parts and components in total exports. To see whether exports in parts and components are "special" and to allow comparisons, export equations...

"This paper examines the performance of Asian asset management companies (AMCs). The analysis reveals that the AMCs vary in their design and performance. The paper claims that AMCs can trigger moral hazard-induced bank lending. Empirical examination of the Thai experience of AMCs reveals that...

This paper considers unit labor costs (ulcs), i.e., the ratio of the wage rate to labor productivity, as the indicator of competitiveness in the Philippines. It is shown that ulcs have an interpretation from the point of view of the functional distribution of income (i.e., the distribution of...

The focal issue of this investigation is whether the rising services sector would contract cost disease and stagnate economic growth in People's Republic of China (PRC), as diagnosed generally of tertiarization in Baumol's unbalanced growth model. Using provincial panel data for 1985-2001, the...

"While decentralization of education in DMCs has largely been driven by fiscal constraints, it has also been motivated by concerns about the effectiveness of a centralized system in delivering education services. The statistics are revealing: while virtually all DMCs have made impressive gains...