This paper takes a first pass at assessing areas of implementation for distributed ledger (or blockchain) technology in the context of development finance. It identifies five use cases, including digital identity, trade finance, project aid monitoring, smart energy, and supply chain management....

This paper takes a first pass at assessing areas of implementation for distributed ledger (or blockchain) technology in the context of development finance. It identifies five use cases, including digital identity, trade finance, project aid monitoring, smart energy, and supply chain management....

We derive a Frankel-Romer instrument from a global trade matrix of 157 countries over the period 1990-2007, and deploy it to assess the relationship between international trade, domestic market potential and income for the case of developing Asia, compared to the world average. The findings from...

The Asian Development Outlook (ADO) provides growth and inflation forecasts for more than 40 economies in the region. This paper assesses the accuracy of those forecasts against actual outcomes for the years from 2008 to 2011. The World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecasts by the International...

This is done in relation to the benchmark of World Economic Outlook (WEO) projections by the International Monetary Fund. Amid much heterogeneity across countries and years, it has been found that ADO and WEO projections overlap quite closely. Both are inaccurate, especially during crisis years,...

The central objective of this paper is to empirically examine the issue of fiscal sustainability in developing Asia. To do so, we first diagnose the region's public finances by analyzing the evolution of key fiscal indicators over time and across subregions. We then estimate fiscal policy...

The paper calculates the decline in costs involving merchandise trade between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and India during the period 1980-2008. The gravity-based measure of bilateral trade costs indicates that declining trade costs account for about three-quarters of the increase in...

The paper explores risk-based fiscal analytical approaches to complement a standard debt sustainability analysis when applied under conditions of risk and uncertainty. To outline a possible road map for risk-adjusted fiscal sustainability analysis, the paper first examines the types of...

This paper assesses the accuracy of Asian Development Outlook growth and inflation forecasts for 43 Asian economies from 2007 to 2016, against the benchmark of World Economic Outlook projections by the International Monetary Fund. They are found to overlap quite closely, notwithstanding much...