Tax rates are key tools for mobilizing domestic resources and addressing specific market failures. Countries often offer tax concessions or reduce corporate tax rates in order to boost private investment or to direct investment to “desired areasâ€. Corporate tax rates, especially for...

Financing for sustainable development – a significant component of the United Nations’ post-2015 development agenda – is critical for Asia and the Pacific. Home to two thirds of the world’s poor, the region will require the mobilization of vast resources to address...

ESCAP analysis indicates that a minimum wage policy, if designed carefully along with supportive adjustment measures, boosts workers’ income and improves long-term job prospects without adversely affecting businesses. For example, recent minimum wage hikes in Thailand are projected to increase...

The ongoing euro zone debt crisis creates an undesirable scenario for the global economy as well as for the Asia-Pacific region given that the region has close economic linkages. The paper aims to provide quantitative estimates of the potential impact of the euro zone debt crisis on merchandise...

This paper examines the agenda of this year’s G20 Brisbane summit namely, to promote strong economic growth and employment outcomes and to make the global economy more resilient to future shocks – in the context of key policy debates in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as discussions on the...