The COVID-19 pandemic has affected over 200 countries and territories, leading to well over 40 million confirmed cases and over 1.1 million deaths worldwide (covid19.who.int/). While many are hopeful, an effective vaccine is not yet assured, and the world still struggles with the so-called...

Since 2006, the World Bank has been ranking almost 200 countries in terms of their business environment and the “ease of doing business” in these economies. The rationale behind this is the importance of a thriving private sector in promoting high and inclusive growth and development. It is...

With the lifting of the quantitative restrictions on rice imports, the Philippines is expecting an inflow of rice to enter in the next few months. Although this is expected to lead to a decrease in rice prices, this could similarly put pressure on some farmers' incomes to the extent that they...

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in extractive industries (mining and quarrying) is expected to increase dramatically in many developing countries, due to the rising global demand for commodities. One key question for policymakers is whether this form of FDI could help spur investments in other...

Developing countries are presently experiencing or are shortly expected to see a “youth bulge” (a large number of young people in the national population) — some 71 in total and 11 in Asia alone — will face relatively greater employment and human capital investment challenges as a result...

Not all FDI are alike as far as their impact on various dimensions of human development is concerned. This paper focuses, in particular, on child labor and it undertakes a cross-country empirical analysis of this issue, using data on 100 countries spanning the period 1990-2009. Unlike earlier...