Summary Macroeconomic performance continued its steady improvement during 2007, with quite strong growth, moderate inflation, a reasonably stable exchange rate, and a strongly performing stock market. A promising sign has been rapid investment growth, although the global economic slow-down...

First, the expert contributors argue, Asia must find ways to sustain rapid economic growth in the face of less favorable demographics, which implies slower growth of the workforce. Second, they contend, Asia must find ways to deliver affordable, adequate, and sustainable old-age economic...

Events surrounding the global financial crisis have brought to light the potential role of monetary policy in precipitating the crisis. Numerous studies on advanced economies have documented a significant negative relationship between interest rates and bank risk-taking. This paper also finds...

One of developing Asia’s foremost structural economic challenges is the need to rebalance demand and growth toward domestic sources in the face of one of its most significant structural shifts—the demographic transition to an older population. The scope for investment-led growth may be quite...

A potentially important side effect of quantitative easing(QE) by the United States (US) Federal Reserve System (the Fed) is the expansion of capital flows into developing countries. As a result, there is widespread concern that QE tapering may trigger financial instability in those countries....

This essay examines the choice of monetary policy instrument for a small open economy under flexible exchange rate regime with some reference to Indonesia. To approach the issue a simple ad-hoc aggregate supply-IS-LM model is used for the analysis. Although basically the issue concerning...

Empirical studies on the process of monetary policy making in a number of advanced economies have shown that a simple policy reaction function (PRF) performs well in explaining the setting of monetary policy. This paper examines an application of a simple PRF in an attempt to broaden the...

The paper outlines some alternative methodologies for estimating the monetary policy reaction function. It also discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages for each available alternative to be implemented in the case of small developing economies. Additionally, a simple case study using...

This paper investigates whether or not monetary policy has been conducted efficiently in five selected ASEAN economies. It derives a utility-consistent social loss function, as a metric for welfare, to assess monetary policy efficiency in a small open economy model. An optimal monetary policy...