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...

"Since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, a popular view among academic economists and policymakers is that developing countries with open capital accounts have only two options in their exchange rate regimes: either float the exchange rate freely or fix it hard. Within a fixed exchange rate...

"This paper surveys the growing literature on monetary cooperation in East Asia that goes beyond the Chiang Mai Initiative. It compares and contrasts the various proposals for cooperation such as the Williamson basket peg, the Asian monetary system, and the yen block as to their crisis...

"This paper evaluates the outreach and impact of two microfinance "village bank" programs that target the poor in Northeast Thailand. It controls for endogenous self-selection and program placement, using data from a unique survey conducted in 1995-1996. Results indicate that even prior to...