Decline in the school-age population due to demographic changes presents an opportunity to redirect resources within the education sector to improve access and quality. However, the experiences of countries that have gone through similar demographic transitions show that a shrinking student...

Many developing country governments would like to attract investment and create jobs in manufacturing and high-tech industries. Heavy and unpredictable laws and regulations, frequent demands for bribes, high taxes, poor-quality roads, slow and inefficient ports, and unreliable power, however,...

This study examines the impact of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) on participation in global value chains (GVCs) among South Asian economies, specifically Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. This research offers new empirical insights into the relatively underexplored relationship...

This study explores the intricate links between remittance inflow and energy consumption in South Asia, a region characterized by high levels of migration abroad and remittance inflows. The present study provides a thorough analysis of vigorous energy utilization in the context of South Asian...

This edition of the Macro Poverty Outlooks periodical contains country-by-country forecasts and overviews for GDP, fiscal, debt and poverty indicators for the developing countries of South Asia. Macroeconomic indicators such as population, gross domestic product and gross domestic product per...

Growth in South Asia is on track to exceed earlier expectations and reach 6.6 percent in 2025, but is expected to slow to 5.8 percent in 2026. While this short-term outlook is subject to downside risks, over the longer term, artificial intelligence (AI) could promote growth by boosting...

Examining the persistence of volatility transmission over an extended timeframe, regardless of specific events, reveals significant importance, as it uncovers the inherent fundamental and structural drivers that give rise to volatility. However, previous research in South Asia is minimal and has...

At the conclusion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) campaign in 2015, stunting among under 5-year-olds remained a major challenge in South Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia lagging behind-a phenomenon known as the "Asian enigma." This paper revisits the issue, focusing on...

Frequent political uncertainty, governance challenges, financial inaccessibility, and inconsistent policy environments in South Asian countries undermine investor confidence and obstruct the development of capital markets. Thus, this study is motivated to investigate the long-term and short-term...

This working paper presents insights and lessons learned from the ILO's 2025 South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) workshop on digital case management systems. Convened in Bangkok, the workshop gathered representatives from South Asia, South-East Asia, and Southern Africa to address the...

South Asia is the most climate-vulnerable region among emerging market and developing economies. With governments having limited room to act due to fiscal constraints, the burden of climate adaptation will fall primarily on households and firms. Awareness of climate risks is high; more than...

This study examines the impact of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in South and Southeast Asia from 2006 to 2022, using a comprehensive panel dataset and multiple econometric techniques. The baseline estimation employs Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS), with...

Understanding how e-commerce platforms are affecting the small, informal firms that sell on them is a question of growing importance to researchers and policymakers in developing countries. This paper examines this question using data from surveys of firms selling on two e-commerce platforms in...

This edition of the Macro Poverty Outlooks periodical contains country-by-country forecasts and overviews for GDP, fiscal, debt and poverty indicators for the developing countries of South Asia. Macroeconomic indicators such as population, gross domestic product and gross domestic product per...

The main objective of this study is to test the impacts of lending by various types of financial institutions on poverty, employment, and new business startups. The study is based on seven equations estimated through the ordinary least squares (OLS) technique and censored TOBIT equations. These...

The present study was done to evaluate the causal relationship amid the enablers of successful transition of management succession in family-owned business in South Asian Nations. This was an empirical study where owners of family-run business across various South Asian countries were...

Grandparents are an integral part of family support systems, serving as both providers and consumers of instrumental, financial, and emotional care. They also play a central role in transmitting cultural and financial capital to their grandchildren. Grandparenting, which refers to the care,...

Growth prospects for South Asia have dimmed. The global economic environment has become more challenging and is a source of heightened downside risks. After a decade of repeated disruptions, South Asia's buffers to cushion new shocks are slim. Tackling some of its greatest inefficiencies and...

This paper draws a concise overview of the economic relationship between the European Union (EU) and selected Asian regions in the context of the twin transition - green and digital. A series of significant initiatives adopted in recent years to consolidate the cooperation with these regions are...

The study aims to investigate the long and short-run impacts of women's reproductive health and women's empowerment on their economic opportunities in South Asia. The paper employs panel autoregressive distributed lag for eight South Asian countries from 1991 to 2021. The results reveal that...

Foreign aid, remittance, and foreign direct investment have a significant role in shaping and promoting globalization and these factors also play avital role in determining health quality in developing countries. Developing countries, especially South Asian countries still need research and...

This study analyzes the integration of South Asia into global value chains (GVCs) through a value-added decomposition framework that distinguishes simple and complex participation modes. Using the Asian Development Bank Multi-Regional Input-Output database, which spans two decades, the study...

This research aims to investigate the possible implications of diversification, which encompasses assets, funds, and income, on the financial performance of commercial banks within the South Asian context. This research employed a GMM framework for hypotheses testing utilizing a data set...

Over the last three decades, South Asian economies have shown a continued upsurge in services exports, contributing to their external sector stability and economic growth. In this context, we examine the role of human capital in boosting services exports and revisit the other determinants of...

"South Asia Migration Report 2024 documents key themes of remittances, resilience, and rehabilitation from the region. This volume: - Includes dedicated fieldwork to map migration within and outside South Asia; - Analyses the impact of Covid-19 on migrants and migration in South Asia; - Highlights...

Ecological risks and climate change have vulnerable effects on the financial markets. Using wavelet time-frequency analysis, our study explores the interim effect of climate flood-disaster risk co-movements on the South Asian emerging stock market for financial inclusion. We selected the vital...

Literature links food insecurity to adverse welfare outcomes, including the educational performance of children. This paper investigates whether food insecurity, exacerbated by recent food inflation, has hindered schoolchildren's recovery from learning loss following coronavirus disease-related...

Entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in driving economic growth and development, and understanding the factors that shape entrepreneurship is essential. This research paper aims to investigate the factors influencing entrepreneurship development in South Asian countries by analyzing the role of...

According to the classical theory of economic development, as in Akamatsu's flying geese model, many countries should exhibit similar development patterns from agriculture-based sectors to processed or labor-intensive industries as a long-run trend. This paper identifies some common development...