The signs of digital technology adoption are evident across Southeast Asia. In big cities, the use of mobile phones for messaging and social media has become ubiquitous. Ride-sharing services and delivery riders using apps to obtain their next booking are changing the face of urban transport and...

This paper documents the existence of a "middle-income trap" for the Middle East and North Africa region. It argues that the economic woes of the Middle East and North Africa offer new insights into the debate on the trap which has thus far focused on the East Asia and Pacific region. The...

East Asia, for long the epitome of successful engagement in trade, faces serious challenges: technological change that may threaten the very model of labor intensive industrialization and a backlash against globalization that may reduce access to important markets. A detailed analysis of the...

The report stipulates growth in Emerging East Asian countries eased modestly from 7.5 percent in 2004 to 6.8 percent in 2005. The slower pace of activity was most clear in the Newly Industrialized Economies (NIEs), and in some of the middle income economies of South East Asia. But it was not...

Using a new database of household surveys, this paper examines inequality among all individuals living in developing East Asia regardless of their country of residence. The East Asian Gini index increased from 39.0 in 1988 to 43.3 in 2012. Inequality increased during the initial decade,...

Developing economies in East Asia and Pacific are projected to grow at 7.1 % in 2013, down from 7.5 percent last year. While the pace of growth is slowing, the region will still contribute 40% of global growth and one-third of global trade this year †“ higher than any other region in the...