Policymakers have placed growing weight on the importance of integrated approaches for tackling complex development challenges. There have also been increased calls to focus attention and resources on addressing the specific challenges posed by borderland regions, considering that protracted...

This Budget brief presents a summary of developments in Myanmar's public finances. This report includes three sections that cover the aggregate fiscal update, a primer on public finance developments in core service ministries, and a longer-term view of fiscal management in Myanmar. The report...

This poverty synthesis notes documents Myanmar's poverty reduction progress leading to the COVID-19 crisis, and setback to these gains brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and coup. The note aims to extract lessons from the Myanmar Poverty Assessment and the World Bank High-Frequency Phone...

This brief summarizes the state of student learning outcomes in Myanmar before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and presents retrospective estimates of the losses in learning and future earnings of students resulting from the disruptions caused by the pandemic and the military coup of...

During Myanmar's decade of reforms, financial sector reforms were widely recognized to be a critical underpinning of Myanmar's democratization process, enabling the transition to a more egalitarian, accessible economy. Accordingly, the government developed a program of wide-ranging financial...

Myanmar has experienced a series of total and partial internet shutdowns since the military coup in February 2021. These restrictions have varied in intensity across the country and over time, ranging from the complete shutdown of all wireless broadband services and nightly shutdowns of fixed...

Transport and logistics services in Myanmar have been substantially hit by the impacts of the February 2021 coup and the surge in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. Logistics companies have been affected by rising fuel prices, border closures, and a shortage of shipping containers. While...

Myanmar's economy continues to be severely tested by the ongoing impacts of the military coup and the surge in COVID-19 cases in 2021. While some real-time indicators have improved in recent months, they remain consistent with a much lower level of economic activity than prior to the February...

Stock market returns are driven by political events. Investors adjust their behavior and reallocate their investments with respect to them. This study examines the effects of Myanmar’s 2020 general election and 2021 military coup on the Yangon Stock Exchange’s (YSX) returns. Myanmar is one...

Using a unique panel survey of enterprises, we examine the relationship between four categories of formalization and firm productivity. We carry out one- and two-step productivity estimations whose robustness we check with matching and doubly robust estimators. The only formalization category...

Myanmar's economy continues to be severely tested by the ongoing impacts of the military coup and the surge in COVID-19 cases in 2021. While some real-time indicators have improved in recent months, they remain consistent with a much lower level of economic activity than prior to the February...

This study investigates auditor attributes that may influence an auditor's judgment in a financial audit. The purpose of this study is specified to show the impact of auditor's attributes on professional judgment on the financial auditing process. An empirical research methodology is carried out...

This PhD thesis consists of three self-contained chapters within the fields of international and development economics. Chapter 1: The Role of Labor Composition and Quality in Determining the Productivity-Wage Gap: Evidence from Industrial Zones in Myanmar - with John Rand, Finn Tarp, and Neda...

With the easing or elimination of economic sanctions and shift away from authoritarian military rule, Myanmar is now attracting large-scale foreign investment. One of the Myanmar government’s strategies to attract foreign investment is the creation of special economic zones (SEZs). An SEZ is a...

The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic to Myanmar posed particular problems for the country, which had an elevated level of vulnerability due to the country’s weak health system, high poverty rates, low levels of development, and weak government capacities. The country struggled to address the...

Despite major public finance reform efforts over the last decade, Myanmarese public finances continue to be characterized by relative weakness in revenue collection, budget execution, and long-term sustainability. Myanmar is therefore in need of comprehensive public finance reform. Two top...

Myanmar has, in recent years, strengthened its focus on human capital as a development pillar, and introduced legislation and adopted conventions on child labour. But child exploitation continues, including use of forced labour by the military and children performing hazardous work. Moreover,...

Myanmar is facing climate change (CC) induced changes to the productivity of their critically important rice sector over the coming century. Moreover, the recent five-year Myanmarese Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) sets out a vision of achieving an '…inclusive, competitive, food and...

Purpose: This study examines Myanmar's international trade pattern in terms of suggesting strategies to accelerate the country's economic growth. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a panel dataset of Myanmar's 85 trading partners covering a period of a 25-year period (1994-2018). An...

Employer-provided benefits are independent elements in the compensation packages that make up firms' payment strategies. Such benefits are aimed at attracting and retaining preferred employees and improving incentives. In Myanmar, there are two employee benefit systems: (1) an unregulated...

We look into the relationship between business practices and enterprise productivity using panel data with matched employer and employee information from Myanmar. The data show that micro, small, and medium-size enterprises in Myanmar typically do only a few modern business practices. Even so,...

Myanmar's economy has experienced political and economic transformations since 2011 by means of diverse economic reforms. However, the power sector is still struggling to fulfil electricity demand. This study will examine aspects of the electricity sector in an economy-wide perspective by means...

The quality of people's jobs is a fundamental determinant of their well-being, and judging the state of a labour market on the basis of job quantity alone delivers a very partial picture. This study is an attempt to place the spotlight on the working conditions of workers in the Myanmar...

Myanmar is facing climate change (CC) induced changes to the productivity of their critically important rice sector over the coming century. Moreover, the recent five-year Myanmarese Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS) sets out a vision of achieving an '…inclusive, competitive, food and...

Myanmar has, in recent years, strengthened its focus on human capital as a development pillar, and introduced legislation and adopted conventions on child labour. But child exploitation continues, including use of forced labour by the military and children performing hazardous work. Moreover,...

Despite major public finance reform efforts over the last decade, Myanmarese public finances continue to be characterized by relative weakness in revenue collection, budget execution, and long-term sustainability. Myanmar is therefore in need of comprehensive public finance reform. Two top...

Nine months after the 1 February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, an estimated 2,000 soldiers of the 300,000-350,000 strong Myanmar military, the Tatmadaw, had defected. This has occurred in the context of massive popular resistance to the coup, which the military leadership has tried to quell...

Employer-provided benefits are independent elements in the compensation packages that make up firms' payment strategies. Such benefits are aimed at attracting and retaining preferred employees and improving incentives. In Myanmar, there are two employee benefit systems: (1) an unregulated...

Bay of Bengal countries have been affected heavily by the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. This article argues that the regional cooperation could help in reducing the costs of pandemic-driven barriers. The responses to the Corona pandemic also suggest a greater scope of regional cooperation among...