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As economic growth centres, the Southeast Asian cities feature high population pressure, unsustainable land use, environmental degradation, and large ecological footprints. It is difficult to manage environmental health and basic services for urban dwellers, and ensure optimum flow of ecosystem services in the context of rapid, unplanned, and haphazard urbanization. These challenges are particularly multifaceted in the developing countries of Southeast Asian region. This study, based on secondary sources, adopted multidisciplinary lenses, such as geographical information systems, socio‐economic perspective, and sustainability science to examine the population situation, land use change pattern, and drivers of environmental degradation in the Southeast Asian cities as well as the Dhaka megacity, and brought forth a fresh perspective to look into contemporary urban ecosystems, population dynamics, environmental health, and sustainability. It also focused on identifying the commonalities among the cities under study to create a common understanding towards promoting collaborative urban development. This study shows that the urbanization process in the Southeast Asia region is taking place mostly in an unplanned and haphazard manner. With little concern for nature, life‐supporting ecological systems, and the environment, urban spatial growth continues unabated. The data surveyed and discussed in this paper shows that the current style of urbanization in Southeast Asia can best be called unsustainable. The findings also suggest that the general wellbeing and welfare of the current and future generations in Southeast Asian cities as well as in Dhaka is at risk. The paper recommends concerted efforts towards making the urbanization process sustainable, including better urban planning, policymaking, and international and regional cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asia is facing serious environmental challenges including urban air pollution and the effects of global climate change. As a major source of greenhouse gases, what happens in Asia will play a crucial role in determining the extent to which the world warms over coming decades. This paper reviews key environmental challenges faced by the region and the growing opportunities for a transition to a cleaner economy powered by zero‐emission energy sources. Economic mechanisms – including emissions pricing, reverse auctions, and renewable portfolio standards with green certificate schemes – have the potential to underpin a much greener development model for the Asian Century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian Government's White Paper ' Australia in the Asian Century' is the first large-scale official look in the twenty-first century at economic change in Asia and how it affects Australian opportunities and challenges. This paper comments on the analysis embodied in and the objectives defined by the White Paper, especially as it relates to Australian resources. This paper generally endorses the aspirations of the White Paper and notes that their achievement is going to require efforts and changes beyond those that are currently contemplated. It comments briefly on six things: the development context of twenty-first century Asian growth; growth and structural change in Asia and Australia's terms of trade; macroeconomic management of a resource-intensive Australian economy; restoring productivity growth; excellence in education; and linking Australia to Asian opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of World Food Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines the impact of remittances on economic growth, using developing countries in Asia and the Pacific as a case study. Using data for the period 1993–2013, our results show that remittances only generate negative and significant impacts on economic growth if they reach 10 percent of GDP or higher. A remittances‐to‐GDP ratio of below 10 percent could still impact growth negatively, but the effect is statistically insignificant. The present study finds some degree of substitutability between remittances and financial development. Foreign direct investment (FDI), but not other types of capital inflow, contributes significantly to economic growth. Other traditional growth engines, including education, trade openness, and domestic investment, are crucial in promoting growth in developing Asian and Pacific nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asia's food systems have undergone rapid economic and socio‐cultural transformations in the past 60 years. During the period, almost all the countries in the region eradicated famines and achieved food self‐sufficiency and heterogeneous levels of poverty reduction. Food system transformation in Asian countries has had similarities and differences and has been closely tied to structural transformation, political processes, and integration with the global economy. This article conducts a historical assessment of food systems transformations in seven Asian countries between 1960 and 2020 and their main economic, social, and demographic drivers. Food systems transformations are presented in terms of four phases. In the first phase, between 1960 and 1980, when most Asian countries were low‐income and low‐middle‐income, the central focus was on hunger reduction. We explore the policies and the politics of the green revolution as various Asian countries tried to achieve self‐sufficiency in food grains. In the second phase (1980–2000), agricultural productivity growth led to structural transformation, income growth, and the divergence of lower‐middle‐income and middle‐income economies, directly impacting demand for food quantity, quality, and diversity in various countries. The third phase (2000 onwards) marked a quantum change in food systems as globalization, trade integration, and changes in consumer tastes were significant drivers of food systems. We assess the changing trends in organized retail expansion, increased consumption of processed foods, and rising incidence of obesity in lower and upper‐middle‐income countries. In the final phase (beyond 2020), we highlight how the digital revolution has changed consumer behavior, and is further transforming food systems. Future food systems challenges of hunger, malnutrition, rising non‐communicable diseases, and climate change are discussed and multisectoral and multicountry policy interventions for addressing them are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional del Trabajo is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Southeast Asia is a development success story. By 2025, it is forecast that extreme poverty in the region will have been ‘eradicated’. Does this mean that the challenges so evident in the 1960s when the countries of the region began to pursue development have been met, and the objectives achieved? The paper makes a case for thinking afresh about development and the poverty project, recognising that development is never neatly achieved but, rather, re‐worked, re‐engineered and re‐imagined over time. This is done through identifying different categories of ‘poor’, each produced through different poverty‐making processes, measured and viewed in different ways, and their poverty addressed using different approaches and policies. With specific reference to the cases of Laos and Thailand, and drawing on longitudinal research in the latter country, it is argued that while economic growth does trickle down, it trickles down in quite discrete and often contingent ways. Furthermore, there is always development work to be done, because development creates its own work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What causes firm-level product innovation in developing economies? This paper answers this question by emphasizing the role of process improvements that are influential in product innovation. We construct a firm-level innovative capability score using novel, broad-based, but detailed data on various process improvement practices obtained from firms in Southeast Asia. We then investigate the factors that may affect innovative capability. We also estimate the effect of the innovative capability score on product innovation controlling for research and development intensity and other firm characteristics. Our empirical investigation identifies a chief executive officer ( CEO)'s past experience at a foreign or large firm, and buyer pressure to adopt international standards as key determinants of innovative capability. Novel and unique findings from our examination include: ( i) the impact of a CEO's past experience at a foreign or large firm on the innovative capability is larger for local enterprises and small- and medium-sized enterprises; ( ii) the impact of share of foreign workers in the upper managerial levels only appears to be significant in foreign firms and larger firms; and ( iii) buyer pressure is a more likely contributor to innovative capability compared with capital tie-ups with multinational enterprises or joint venture buyers that capture vertical technology transfers. Finally, our empirical results show that a firm in Southeast Asia is more likely to achieve product innovation if the firm has had a higher innovative capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies and discusses the five main areas of environmental management public policy that pose serious challenges to Asian governments. The first is the emerging issue of siting environmentally unfriendly facilities that may be necessary for growth, but with the social and environmental costs borne primarily by local host residents and neighbourhood municipalities, more commonly known as the not-in-my-backyard syndrome. The second issue is the critical need for pricing of non-market environmental goods. Third is the issue of waste generation. The fourth challenge is that of transboundary pollution, which has become increasingly important with regard to its effects on health and foreign relations. Lastly, the paper discusses global warming and climate change. Discussions on cost-benefit analysis and the more novel method of establishing damage schedules are also presented. This is particularly relevant to fundamental differences between developed and less developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The small-scale aquaculture ( SSA) sector is recognized as making an important contribution to food security, poverty alleviation, and socioeconomic development. A value chain analysis can uncover insights into the linkages and trust within a value chain and constraints and challenges that face the sector. This paper examines the linkages and trust between SSA producers and traders in Asia in order to better understand the constraints and opportunities faced by small-scale producers. The perspective revealed by the value chain analysis provides response strategies that can enhance the sustainability and competitiveness of the entire value chain and the actors that comprise it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between cross-border mergers and acquisitions ( M&A) and financial development in emerging Asian economies. Bilateral cross-border M&A data for nine emerging Asian economies covering 2000-2009 are analyzed with a sample selection model and a panel data model. The estimation results show that although the banking sector still plays a crucial role in facilitating cross-border M&A, the role of equity markets has increased in importance because, in addition to cash, the issuance of common stock and the exchange of stocks have become popular forms of payment for M&A deals. Because of the relatively thin market, the primary corporate bond market plays a limited role in supporting cross-border M&A, which is in contrast to the primary public bond market. However, for the secondary market, the corporate bond market is more effective in facilitating cross-border M&A. The results also show that financial development in terms of stock and bond markets in their home countries tends to become more important when the target firms reside in more developed countries. In addition to financial development, the paper shows that most cross-border M&A are invested in technology-related and resource-based industries while cheap labor industries are relatively less attractive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically identifies the impact of financial development, particularly exports, on trade in services. Three proxies used for measuring financial development are financial systems deposits, liquid liabilities, and private credit. After conducting statistical tests and robustness checks, we show that financial development has a positive impact on trade in services in Central and South America, but does not have a significant impact in Asia and Africa. All three proxies used for assessing financial development are found to be insignificant in Asia and Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducts country-panel econometric analysis with a focus on the different roles of scientific and technological knowledge on economic growth and on the knowledge production functions. It finds that it is not scientific knowledge (academic articles) but technological knowledge (patents) that matters for economic growth, and that generating scientific knowledge does not automatically lead to the generation of technological knowledge. We find that technological knowledge is primarily determined by corporate research and development efforts, which used to be more lacking in Latin American countries, compared with East Asia. This finding sheds new light on the question of why Latin American and East Asian countries have shown such divergent economic performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts related the Asian economy including "Aggregate shocks decomposition for eight East Asian countries," by Grace Lee, "Indonesian economic development: political economy of an effective state," by Richard Grabowski, and "Economic reforms and gender inequality in urban China," by Haoming Liu.

Asia has emerged from the global financial crisis as an important stabilizing force and an engine of global economic growth. The establishment of the G-20 gives Asian economies the global forum that they need to both represent their interests in global governance and deliver on responsibilities concomitant with their growing weight in the global economy. The region has a host of cooperation arrangements in APEC, ASEAN+3, and EAS (East Asian Summit), all with ASEAN as the fulcrum. They are huge assets, but they need to be repositioned to relate effectively to the G-20 process and other global arrangements. They also need to comprehend the politics of the changing structure of regional power. This paper discusses the challenges that Asia faces in aligning regional and global objectives in financial, trade, and other areas of cooperation, such as climate change and foreign investment. It argues that Asia is now a critical player in the global system and has a central contribution to make in strengthening global governance and international policy outcomes. The paper sets out ways to fill gaps in regional cooperation and link the agenda for regional cooperation more effectively to Asia's new role globally. This is essential to sustain Asia's superior growth performance, correct imbalances, and support the global economic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper ranks Asian universities in two related economics fields: international economics and development economics. A key finding is that new latecomers rank atop the two specialty areas of economics. The results of the university ranking also establish that Zipf's law applies to research-based school ranks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explore the relationship between economic growth and governance performance in Asian developing economies. This exploration yields some interesting conclusions. First, notwithstanding its tremendous economic achievements, the state of governance in Asia is not stellar by international comparison. Indeed, the majority of these countries seem to suffer from a governance deficit. Second, contrary to our expectations, data do not suggest any strong positive link between governance and growth: paradoxically, countries that exhibit surpluses in governance on average grew much slower than those with deficits. The paper ends with some conjecture about this apparent paradox. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom suggests that improving water governance is the key to solving water insecurity in developing countries but there are also many disagreements on operational and methodological issues. In this paper, we build on the work of Saleth and Dinar and surveyed 100 water experts from 17 countries in Asia to compare 19 indicators of water laws, policies, and administration among and within countries from 2001 to 2010. We present the results of our study in a comparative dashboard and report how water governance indicators vary with a country's level of economic development, which ones do not and how and why some indicators change overtime in some countries. We have two main results. First, our initial findings suggest the possibility of water Kuznet's curve, i.e., certain water governance indicators vary with a country's level of economic development. However, more studies are needed given the caveats and limitations of our study. Second, the results have practical value for policy makers and researchers for benchmarking with other countries and tracking changes within their countries overtime. We conclude with implications for a second-generation research agenda on water governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrialisation is a significant part of any country's economic development. This study discusses the relationship between industrialisation and carbon dioxide emissions for Asian economies. The industrialisation has a major impact on carbon emissions, but its relationship with the environment differs in various regions of Asia. The empirical results are obtained by models of panel regression, which divide a balanced panel dataset of 46 countries into five groups depending on their subregions over the period 1991–2017. The tests of panel cointegration estimation found a majority of the cointegrated variables and verified the long‐run relationship between the variables. The long‐run coefficients are estimated using a fully modified ordinary least‐squares (FMOLS) method, and results conclude that industrialisation has a positive impact on the carbon dioxide emissions in the long run. These findings reveal that various industrialisation development strategies should be pursued in a bid to reduce emissions, depending on the levels of economic growth. Based on the findings, some policy suggestions are proposed for Asian economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past three decades, Shanghai and Hong Kong, leading cities in China's Yangzi River Delta and Pearl River Delta, respectively, have seen rapid economic development and institutional transformation. Shanghai has experienced a major breakthrough in its export-driven economy and in industrial upgrading since the opening of the Pudong area in the 1990s. Shanghai has also ramped up its efforts to catch up with Hong Kong and has already become one of the world's foremost manufacturing and export hubs. At the same time, and particularly following the 1997 Asian economic crisis, Hong Kong has redoubled efforts to identify shortcomings in its economic architecture; and has explored plans to transcend its traditional role as a financial hub, to attract entrepreneurial hi-tech talent, and to overcome inequitable income growth. This paper explores the development trajectories of these two cities and how they depart from the pre-1978 development models. The paper also examines the extent to which the current trajectories are complementary or in competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters inflict tremendous social, economic and human costs. They have the potential to affect the economic development not only of a domestic economy, but also the rest of the world, given the extent of interconnected production networks in this globalized era. The main objective of this special issue is to highlight the real issues of natural disaster management. This special issue focuses on key policy issues and case studies of recent events such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE). We believe the lessons learned from past natural disasters should help to alleviate both the direct and indirect impacts of future disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the idea that in the Asia-Pacific region the relationship between economic growth, industrial transformation and the rise of service industries in general, and producer services in particular, appears to be different to that found in North America or Europe. After an exploration of the context for producer services growth, some simple indices for measuring the relative position of Asia-Pacific producer services in the global context are used to demonstrate that they are apparently less prominent than expected. More robust data, including case studies, are needed to substantiate this preliminary paper. The paper concludes with the elements of an agenda for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to estimate worldwide income distribution for multiple years, and then to use this data in evaluating income distribution for particular countries or areas. Based on previous contributions to estimate the worldwide distribution for a particular year, worldwide income distribution was estimated by using per capita GDP, purchasing power parities of the International Comparison Programme, and income distribution data for various countries. Results for four years show that Gini coefficients exceeded 0.5 and were relatively stable from 1962 to 1985. Income distribution for the Asian area is compared to worldwide income distribution. A Relative Advance Index is proposed to measure the position of a country's particular income distribution in relation to worldwide income distribution. The Index shows that Asian income distribution has shifted toward higher income as compared to worldwide income. The paper also suggests that worldwide income distribution can be used to determine the poverty level cutoff point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the Cold War the EU's relationship with Asia has evolved almost beyond recognition: from relatively low-ranking, undeveloped and scattered, to highly salient, increasingly refined, comprehensive, systematic and coherent. Asia is now firmly positioned on the EU's global agenda. The aim of the paper is twofold: to examine the development of the EU's relationship with Asia since the end of the Cold War; and to explore ways in which the EU could play a more relevant role in Asia. Acknowledging the vast diversity in cultures, histories, languages, socioeconomic and political systems, foremost in Asia but also within the EU, this analysis focuses on three key issue areas: trade, security and the climate. The central argument put forward is that trade is not only essential to economic recovery and sustainable economic growth, but also a vehicle to reach progress on solving security issues, whether traditional or nontraditional. This study also offers evidence of the core ideas that underpin the way the EU engages with the world at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the relationship between regional trade agreements, trade integration and economic growth in 21 South and South-East Asian countries over the period from 1980 to 2004. We aim to answer the following questions. First, how does the trade policy of a given country (and countries within the same region) affect a nation's domestic growth? Second, should developing economies in South and South-East Asia engage in regional trade agreements (RTA) or move towards broad liberalization? Our results show that openness of either a single country or of its neighbors does not affect a nation's growth and that the impacts of RTA are unclear (if not detrimental to growth in some cases, once endogeneity is accounted for). Panel Granger-causality tests running from openness to growth yield mixed results and some conclusions depend on the particular subsample under scrutiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is revived interest and debate on the relation between international migration and development, with Asia emerging as one important locus for such deliberations. A number of institutions, journals, people and organizations have emerged as key players in these discussions but so far there have been few attempts to investigate the information gathered from the perspective of “knowledge production”. This paper’s objective, therefore, is to outline some of the ways in which knowledge about migration and development is being produced in Asia. We focus on selected aspects of knowledge production to identify the lenses through which much of the work is currently generated and the research imagination resulting from existing approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into selected South-East Asian and East Asian economies after the Asian crisis. Empirical evidence indicates that South-East and East Asian economies are recovering from the Asian crisis with strong output growth driven largely by export growth. However, output growth in the post-crisis period is also accompanied by rising unemployment rates, growing government deficits, and declining FDI inflows into the South-East Asian region. The declining FDI inflows into South-East Asia after the crisis is of concern, as our empirical results show that FDI is important for output growth in the region. Our results also suggest that there might have been structural changes in the regional economies that could have led to a downward shift in the output growth of Asian economies in the post-crisis period. This raises the issue of the sustainability of their output growth in the post-crisis period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many economists maintain that in order to advance economic growth Asian countries should focus more on basic research than on technology adoption, and more on the supply of skilled workers than the supply of unskilled workers. In this context, this paper presents a theoretical model and empirical evidence to explain the observation that a country in which the level of technology approaches the technology frontier tends to rely more on technology creation than adoption, and invest more in basic research than in development. The model shows that technology creation involves both basic and development research processes, whereas technology adoption uses only the latter process. Therefore, R&D investment in our model involves three different processes: basic research in technology creation, development in technology creation, and development in technology adoption. The results suggest first that the rate of growth is positively correlated with the level of basic research activities in the technology creation sector, if a country's technology gap with the technology frontier is small enough. Second, an increase in the efficiency of the education system for highly skilled workers raises the level of basic research and the rate of growth. Third, verifying these theoretical results, empirical analyses using panel data from Korea, Japan and Taipei, China show that the narrower the distance to the technological frontier, the higher the growth effect of basic R&D, which indicates that the share of basic R&D matters for economic growth. Finally, the results also show that the quality of tertiary education has a significantly positive effect on the productivity of R&D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent of the demographic changes is dramatic especially in some Asian and European countries. This paper investigates the effect of aging on global asset markets and asset returns, focusing on markets for productive capital, and especially on interactions between European and Asian economic development. Aging has complex effects on the markets for real capital. If elderly people save less than younger people, interest rates will increase. At the same time, however, the younger generation becomes smaller, which reduces the demand for new investment. The equilibrium effect is thus uncertain. Our multicountry computational equilibrium model delivers a subtle picture: there will be some decline in the return from productive capital, but it is relatively small. We find noticeable interaction effects between labor market and pension reforms in Europe on the one hand, and the demographic and economic developments in Asia, especially India and China, on the other hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regionalism in Asia, particularly in the form of free-trade areas (FTAs), is a recent trend that is becoming increasingly important. This has been disturbing to many, given the significance of trade and investment in Asian economic growth and development and the region's key role in global commerce. In light of this trend, the goal of this paper is to develop a blueprint, or a set of 10 ‘best practices’, that can be used as a guide to FTAs in order to ensure that they approximate first-best outcomes to the greatest extent possible. Next, the paper applies this framework to the existing FTAs between Asian countries and their regional and extra-regional partners. The results suggest that the more advanced regional accords generally receive high grades, with the notable exception of rules of origin, which tend to be even more problematic in the context of accords in which an OECD country is a party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper describes the benefits and costs, in qualitative terms, of managing food price instability in Asia in the context of promoting economic growth and poverty reduction to improve food security. The experience of Asian governments in actual practice with price stabilization is discussed in the context of managing an efficient transition to market-mediated food security. Recent experience in Indonesia, where a sharp increase in rice prices (caused by a ban on rice imports) pushed 4 million people into poverty, provides continued motivation for the analytical story in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to overview the developments of Japan's ODA and assess, in a quantitative manner, their economic impacts on Asian countries. The benefits of two alternative measures—one from capital formation by Japan's ODA loans and the other from import liberalization in the Japanese market—are compared. Those economy-wide impacts of aid and trade on six Asian countries—China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam—are estimated by a CGE model of global trade, incorporating a certain mechanism of dynamic capital formation. Japan's ODA loans are effective for economic growth in the countries. Real GDP gains range from 0.1 to 1.6% annually. Trade liberalization is efficient to improve economic welfare. Utility gains range from 0.2 to 1.9%, which exceed those on account of Japan's ODA. Variations in those economic impacts are much more significantly observed when examined by sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid and sustained growth of several Asian economies led researchers, policymakers, and decision-makers in the world of international business to search for a plausible Asian model of growth. Numerous explanations of the dynamic growth in Asia have been put forward, including the 'new structuralist' approach proposed by Lin (2012). This paper examines the various explanations of what these countries did to unleash their growth potential. Industrial policy and market intervention are two such explanations. While the dynamic Asian economies did not flout the Washington Consensus, they adapted it in different ways. The policies that they followed under the Beijing Consensus allowed them to proactively follow pro-business policies. They also exploited the concepts of economic statism or state capitalism, which became an integral part of what became known as the ' Asia model'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper enquires into the nexus between trade, growth, and fluctuations in the British colony of Singapore during the early twentieth century. Hitherto, little quantitative economic history has been written on this great entrepôt of Southeast Asia due to a lack of data. We overcome this limitation by utilising the gross domestic product series recently constructed for the pre-war period by Sugimoto. This comprehensive data set enables us to explore the relevance and applicability of the staple theory of export-led growth to colonial Singapore through cliometric analyses. The results suggest that foreign trade had acted both as an engine of growth and a source of economic instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the importance of the domestic research and development stock and foreign knowledge spillovers on total factor productivity for six Asian miracle economies over the period from 1955 to 2006. The productivity effects of international knowledge spillovers through the following channels are considered: imports, exports, inward foreign direct investment, patents, geographical proximity, and the general channel. The general channel is a transmission mechanism where knowledge spillovers occur automatically and do not pass through any specific channel. The estimates show that knowledge has been transmitted through all the channels considered but that the import channel and the general channel have probably been the most important ones for the Asian miracle economies. ( JEL O10, O30, O40) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asia is an increasingly significant player in the global economy, and Asia's unprecedented growth and multifaceted disparities have generated many fascinating issues for scholarly research. This paper summarizes the diverse regional policy and practices of Asia in the context of globalization and transition. We argue that research on Asia is embedded in the complex economic-geographical processes and multiple trajectories of development. This paper highlights the important role of institutions and global-local interactions in regional development and public policy. Resumen. Asia es un actor cada vez más importante en la economía mundial y su crecimiento sin precedentes y las múltiples facetas de sus disparidades han generado un buen número de tópicos fascinantes para la investigación académica. Este artículo resume las diversas políticas y prácticas regionales de Asia en el contexto de la globalización y la transición. Sostenemos que la investigación sobre Asia está inmersa en los complejos procesos económico-geográficos y múltiples líneas de desarrollo. El artículo pone de relieve el importante papel de las instituciones y las interacciones globales-locales en materia de desarrollo regional y políticas públicas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper quantifies the impact of terrorism and conflicts on income per capita growth in Asia for 1970–2004. Our panel estimations show that transnational terrorist attacks had a significant growth-limiting effect. An additional terrorist incident per million persons reduces gross domestic product per capita growth by about 1.5%. In populous countries, many additional attacks are needed to achieve such a large impact. Transnational terrorism reduces growth by crowding-in government expenditures. Unlike developing countries, developed countries are able to absorb terrorism without displaying adverse economic consequences. An internal conflict has the greatest growth concern, more than twice that of transnational terrorism. Conflict variables are associated with smaller investment shares and increased government spending, with the crowding-in of government spending being the dominant influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that, notwithstanding the current global recession, the tripling of food prices in the period 2005–2008 presages a permanent increase in the average real price of food over the next 30 years. The underlying causes are likely to be rising energy prices, adverse effects of climate change on agriculture and rising food consumption in Asia. The consequences will be increased social and political turbulence of the urban poor and misguided government policies to try to mitigate this instability. Adam Smith's invisible hand indicates the shape of more constructive policies, consistent with economic development objectives. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past two decades, the fast-developing Asia has emerged as one of the most important economic regions. However, its economic growth is accompanied with severe software piracy. This paper analyzes productivity changes of 11 Asian economies and 4 non-Asian industrialized economies by taking into account software piracy using the Malmquist productivity index and its two components, efficiency change and technical change over the period 1994–2002. The results indicate that when software piracy is included, productivity growth in Asian developing economies regresses, while productivity growth in the four non-Asian industrialized economies improves. Interpretation and implications are provided. ( JEL L86, O34) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides empirical estimates of total factor productivity (TFP) trends in a sample of 17 APEC countries over the period 1975 to 1996. TFP growth is an important measure of an economy's performance and if measured correctly it can provide valuable guidance on issues related to the assessment of sustainable growth trends. We use the Malmquist index to measure TFP growth and decompose it into an efficiency change and a technical change component. This decomposition provides extra insight on assessing sustainable growth trends. The measurement technique itself is regarded as a significant improvement over previous conventional measures of TFP growth. The results are very interesting. Japan, Thailand and primarily Indonesia and Malaysia are identified as countries exhibiting on average negative TFP growth rates in the 1975-1990 period. In all these countries as well as in South Korea and Taiwan the main cause of low TFP growth is a poor (negative) efficiency record. The average TFP growth rate for Japan and Malaysia is positive in the 1975-1996 period but the efficiency change component remains negative. In all these countries the main contributor to labour productivity growth is capital accumulation. Unlike previous studies we find no evidence of a poor TFP growth performance for Singapore. Furthermore, we estimate that most of Singapore's labour productivity growth is driven by efficiency change. Estimates of rates of convergence towards the frontier economy that is estimated (not assumed as in other studies) to be the US, are also reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to the Asian financial crisis, it was accepted wisdom to compare the growth of Latin America unfavourably to that of a selection of East and Southeast Asian countries (the so-called high performing Asian economies). This paper presents statistics that indicate that the differences in performance may have been less than as commonly presented. A modified Harrod–Domar model is applied to the Latin American countries, and the results suggest that a major determinant of slower growth in Latin America was the debt service burden. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What will be the future of international relations in Asia? What is the relation between Sino–US power transition and alliance politics? This study distinguishes two types of paths for great powers: lonely and popular. The lonely rise means attaining great power without winning strong allies (the United States and China provide examples), while the popular rise refers to the process of becoming a great power by attracting security partners (e.g., Germany, the Soviet Union, and Japan). Because the United States is no longer a lonely power due to its creation of an alliance network since the Cold War, today the lonely rising power, China, faces the arguably declining but still popular great power. Asian states will take four different strategies – (i) internal and external balancing, (ii) binding and buck‐passing, (iii) internal balancing, or (iv) hesitant bandwagoning – according to the existence or absence of two factors: an alliance relationship with the United States and territorial conflict with China. In the competition to attract more Asian states as allies and friends, China has a disadvantage in comparison to the United States due to its geographic location, authoritarian system, and fast‐growing economy, which cause it to be regarded as an aggressive power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Asia has been one of the most dynamic regions of economic growth and development. The past two decades have seen tremendous economic and technological catching up in the region. Using South Korea as a case to illustrate the process of technology catching up, we find that the process of graduating from imitation to innovation is a nonlinear one, and requires conscious efforts to invest in research and development and other technological capability-enhancing activities. Successful technology upgrading also calls for policies and institutions that are relevant to technological innovation to evolve and adapt as an economy goes through the different stages of economic and technological development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the relation among natural resources, climate change and the growth of Asian economies. Asian countries including China, India and South Korea contributed to the 34% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2008. China, one of the major carbon emitting countries along with the U.S. and India, attribute its emissions to production of cement and steel. The study adds that sustainable solutions have been developed as responses to climate change including usage of light-emitting diodes, fuel cells and solar cells.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the manner in which Australian policy in matters of international trade is set. The author finds a number of puzzling features. First is the lack of detailed scrutiny given to the policy mechanisms employed by the countries of North-East Asia which have recently been so outstandingly successful in furthering their international trade and economic interests. There can be no valid reason for failing to give close attention to the means whereby others have succeeded. Second is the apparent separation in Australia, unlike Japan, between international trade policy and other, broader economic objectives such as the identification and support of new high value industries with global export potential. If we lack national objectives of this latter kind it is legitimate to ask whether this lack is for the best. Third is the extent to which policy appears to assume, without more ado, that through the liberation of market forces we shall largely resolve our international competitive and trade problems. This is a truly heroic assumption which should be clearly recognised for what it is. Fourth and perhaps most puzzling of all is the extraordinarily low level of community debate, even of interest group debate, over precisely where our 1990s international trade and economic development interests lie. If the current GATT round should largely fail, which is quite likely, clear thinking about where our best interests lie will suddenly become urgent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research paper is to enlarge the dimension of agrarian reform programs by considering them as a part of the community development role in agrarian improvement and economic development in general. The author's hypothesis shall be that community development programs are a necessary condition for economic development. Implicit in the author's discussion is the thought that community development programs can extend beyond traditional supporting services such as credit availability, technical advice and marketing co-operatives. In some countries, extensive agricultural support programs may, however, qualify for "full-blown" community development status. The contention is that for agrarian reform to make significant economic contributions, major support activities are required. After surveying rural agriculture in Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines, the author concluded that one institution appeared to stand above all others as a requisite for the existence of a strong agricultural sector and that is viable farmer associations.

This paper analyzes the dynamic pattern of Japanese manufacturing foreign direct investment (FDI) in Asia. Japanese electronics firms shifted manufacturing operations abroad in the 1990s. We focus on the timing of the surge in FDI: why in this period did Japanese electronics firms increase manufacturing FDI in Asia? The empirical findings indicate that, in addition to productivity improvements, learning experiences from FDI were the primary determinants of the FDI wave. Firms' own past FDI experiences, the experiences of other firms (spillovers), and the presence of own distribution services encourage manufacturing FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the set of liberalising and fiscally conservative development precepts dubbed the ‘Washington Consensus’ are now discredited as a tool for development, there is as yet no widely adopted or accepted alternative other than references to the ‘East Asian model’. In this paper, we distil the essence of the experience of East Asia—of Japan initially, then of Korea and Taiwan, and now of China—in a set of flexible precepts that we suggest underpin the policies and strategies pursued with success by these East Asian economies. In the spirit of proposing an alternative to the Washington Consensus, we suggest that these precepts—pragmatic and known to work—be dubbed the Beijing–Seoul–Tokyo Consensus (or BeST Consensus for development). The essence of this consensus is its focus on capability building, on dynamic transitions from one stage to the next, and on building an institutional platform to capture latecomer effects. We outline what this BeST Consensus might be and discuss why it is that its elements appear to work so well; and whether they can still be applied in the world of 21st-century conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role played by emerging Asia in the emergence and evolution of the global trade imbalances. Based on simulations in a general-equilibrium model of the world economy, we find that a productivity slowdown in the nontradable sector of these economies in the second half of the 1990s fits regional macroeconomic developments relatively well, but has limited spillover effect to the United States trade balance. In contrast, an increase in the desired level of emerging Asia net foreign assets starting in 2001 not only fits regional developments relatively well, but also has a significant spillover effect to the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]