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Digital service trade has emerged as a pivotal engine for global economic transformation and development. However, the implementation of differentiated regulatory measures for trade in digital services among economies has led to increasingly frequent trade disputes. This paper constructs a regulatory homogeneity network for digital service trade in 60 major economies, and systematically evaluates the structural characteristics of the network and the regulatory homogeneity among economies from 2014 to 2021. Furthermore, this paper empirically examines the impact of the partnership characteristics of regulatory homogenization in the network of major economies on their exports. The analysis of the network structure shows that major economies are more inclined to optimize and simplify existing trade partnerships, and are moving towards more diversified restrictive measures in the regulatory model of digital services trade, which has led to the rise of trade protectionism. The empirical text results show that expanding and deepening the regulatory homogeneous partnership of trade in digital services promotes the export of digital services in major economies. This promotion effect is mainly achieved by reducing the cost of digital service trade and enhancing business trust. In addition, the export promotion effect of developing regulatory homogenization partnerships is better than that of increasing the openness of digital service trade, and the homogenization of policies between openness and protection is more important. This paper provides important implications for coordinating the openness and security of digital services trade: China should actively cooperate with multilateral and bilateral digital service trade partners to jointly build a homogeneous environment for regulatory regulations. In particular, it is necessary to deepen the regulatory homogeneity partnership with Asian and developing economies to expand the influence of the "China model" in the global regulation of digital services trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 25 years, Asia's economic rise has been extraordinary. Its share of global gross domestic product (GDP) has risen from 5.8% to 22.9%. The first phase of high economic growth — up to 1995 — saw Asia enter the global supply chain primarily with labor-intensive/low-cost manufacturing. Domestic consumption was a fairly low share of GDP; Asia was manufacturing mainly for consumption in the US and Europe. As such, it was primarily a rule-taker. In the second phase — from 1995 to 2020 — it gradually turned into an economic force joining the US and Europe in shaping the global economy, exercising significant influence upon the value chain, the cycles of the global economy, transport and logistics, the global capital markets and consumption patterns (consumer preferences and tastes). While not yet among the leading rule-makers, it had become difficult for policymakers (public and private) to make decisions without Asia's consent. To form an opinion of today's emerging third phase — post 2020 — the intriguing question is whether the Asian countries have adopted what may be termed Anglo-American economic thinking (basically, the primacy of the market). Or whether behind the curtain, the Asian economy works in its own way diverging from the American and British economic schools. Since demographics and sheer economic scale mean that Asia will dominate the global economy in the years to come, the nature of the Asian economy will be of crucial importance for the future global economy. The conclusion of this paper is that "Asia" in many respects differs — and fundamentally so — from market economy principles. How this prospect should be interpreted is also evolving, as circumstances change. Certainly, the repercussions of COVID-19 have not been the same in the US, Europe, East Asia and South Asia — and this may suggest that socio-political structures have a stronger impact on economic outcomes than economic theory teaches, thus calling into question the global validity of market economy principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lists papers of selected institutes concerning economic conditions in the Pacific region published in the November 1998 issue of the periodical 'Asian-Pacific Economic Literature.' Challenges for Asia's trade and environment; Aspects of urban water and sanitation in the context of rapid urbanization in developing Asia; Agricultural price policy in Asia and the Pacific.

Finally, the last paper by Fanjie Fu, Alan Collins, and Shujie Yao investigates how supervision intensity is related to stock price crash risk (SPCR) in China, finding an inverted U-pattern. Three of the eight papers are closely related to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) launched by China in 2013. In Paper 4, Kailei Wei, Suhan Li, and Chunxia Jiang explore the spatial heterogeneity and time-varying nature of FDI determinants by specially examining the BRI impact on FDI inflows. [Extracted from the article]

Presents an index of papers from selected institutes published in the May 2003 issue of the 'Asian-Pacific Economic Literature.' Asian Development Bank Institute; City University of Hong Kong; Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

The article discusses and reviews two documents titled "Australia in the Asian Century: Australian Government's White Paper" and "Strong and Secure: A Strategy for Australia's National Security". It mentions that "Australia in the Asian Century: Australian Government's White Paper" describes the three assumptions regarding the future economic position of Asia in the global landscape and its reduction of interdependence on other nations leading to negligible conflict.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between government spending, public debt and the informal economy. In addition, this paper investigates the moderating role of public debt in government spending and the informal economy nexus. Design/methodology/approach: By utilizing a data set spanning from 2000 to 2017 of 32 Asian economies, the study has employed the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS). The study is also extended to consider the marginal effects of government spending on the informal economy at different degrees of public debt. Findings: The results indicate that an increase in government spending and public debt leads to an expansion of the informal economy in the region. Interestingly, the positive effect of government spending on the informal economy will increase with a rise in public debt. Originality/value: This study stresses the role of government spending and public debt on the informal economy in Asian nations. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study pioneers to explore the moderating effect of public debt in the public spending-informal economy nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The studies that explore the impacts of national intellectual capital on informal economy are scant. Moreover, the effect of an external factor such as institutional quality that moderates this relationship has largely been neglected in previous studies. Institutions are considered important pillars to accumulate national intellectual capital and reduce shadow economy. As such, this paper aims to investigate how institutional quality moderates the effects of national intellectual capital on informal economy in 17 Asian countries from 2000 to 2018. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses the generalized method of moments techniques, which allow cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity in panel data, to examine the moderating role of institutional quality on the relationship between national intellectual capital and informal economy. Various tests are conducted to ensure the robustness of the findings. Findings: Empirical findings from this paper indicate that an increase in national intellectual capital and institutional quality declines the informal economy. Interestingly, better institutional quality aggravates the negative effects of national intellectual capital on reducing the size of informal economy. The author also finds that enhancing international trade and economic growth results in a decrease in the informal economy in Asian countries. Practical implications: Empirical findings offer policymakers an indication of the relationships between national intellectual capital, institutional quality and informal economy, pointing out that national intellectual capital and institutional quality should be strengthened to allow Asian countries to limit the informal economy. Originality/value: This study provides a conceptual model through which the moderating role of institutional quality on the national intellectual capital–informal economy nexus can be recognized. This approach has thus far not been investigated in the existing literature. To the best of the author's knowledge, this study makes an original contribution to the empirical of national intellectual capital and informal economy nexus and produces new insights into the fields of the moderating effects of institutional quality on this nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As R&D investment is regarded as risky investments, it is likely that stringent investor protection laws and/or governance provisions will reduce R&D investments. This special issue deals with issues and challenges of research and development (R&D) investment with a particular focus on institutional quality. The basic argument of these studies is that strict governance regulations would increase the compliance cost and therefore firms feel discouraged to raise external capital which in turn reduces the corporate investments such as R&D investments. Moreover, the paper has found that firm-level cash flow and access to external finance also significantly affect firm-level R&D investments. [Extracted from the article]

This paper surveys the recent literature on the economic impacts of SARS, MERS, and COVID‐19, which Asian countries have experienced in the past two decades. In particular, we provide a detailed summary of how each of the past infectious diseases has impacted on the Asian economies and the extent of that impact. This paper also documents how the governments of Asian countries have responded to the COVID‐19 shocks with their economic policies, and discusses the effectiveness of these economic policies to mitigate the COVID‐19 shocks on their economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper analyzes the direct effect of financial development and the mediating impact of financial development through foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign aid and trade on economic growth for all Asian countries. Design/methodology/approach: A fixed-effect model with Driscoll–Kraay panel corrected estimators was employed to find the direct and mediating impact of financial developments on growth for all 47 Asian economies from 1980 to 2020. The bootstrapped panel-quantile regression (BPQR) model is used to check how this effect varies for different income groups of countries. Findings: The results demonstrated that financial development positively impacts countries' economic growth. The interaction effect of financial development with FDI, foreign aid and foreign trade negatively impacts economic growth. The BPQR results showed that FDI and foreign aid help in the growth of lower quantile economies; however, the impact is negative for middle- and upper-income countries. Trade impacts growth positively for all the quantiles of economies. Research limitations/implications: The results suggest that the Asian economies must continue to provide thrust on the financial development of their own countries to achieve better growth. It also implied that the dependence on external finance is good for low-income countries and not advisable for middle- and upper-income countries. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, the current study is the first to provide empirical evidence on analyzing both the direct and interaction effect of financial development on economic growth by considering all the Asian economies. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2022-0587 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the growth of local-currency bond markets in Emerging Asia and the institutional and policy challenges facing the region's economies for their further development. It presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between local-currency government bond (LCGB) market development and the components of financial development, using panel data for selected Emerging Asian economies. The analysis seeks to identify the key determinants for the development of LCGB markets. The results show that the depth of and access to both financial markets and financial institutions have a significantly positive impact on LCGB market development. Critical factors associated with local-currency bond market depth include macroeconomic variables, the exchange-rate regime, capital account openness and creditor rights. Based on these results, the paper offers policy directions for fostering the development of local-currency bond markets in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a sample of 18 Asian economies and using the path analysis technique and maximum likelihood method of estimation, the present paper contributes to the literature on the interaction between human capital (HC), institutional quality (IQ), and economic growth (EG) in the context of selected Asian economies. The study marks a clear-cut departure from the previous studies by introducing the mediating effect of Digital Adoptions (DA), Creative Outputs (CO), and Total Factor Productivity (TFP) on IQ and helps in obtaining more reliable results of IQ on EG. The path analysis technique allowed us to parse the direct and indirect effects of key variables on each other as well as on IQ. The study demonstrates that HC impacts digital adoptions and creative outputs directly, positively, and significantly and exercises an indirect but positive influence on IQ by mediating variables such as DA, CO, and TFP. TFP growth improves the quality of institutions, which in turn spurs economic growth. The major policy implication of this study is that it very clearly shows that institutional quality is tied to TFP directly and to human capital (via creative outputs and TFP) indirectly. Such a study deserves special attention of policymakers in Asian countries for promoting strategies regarding human capital and digital development along with leveraging the creative industries and services sectors for productivity enhancement, which can significantly improve institutional quality and facilitate broad-based growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic recession caused by the restrictions on the spread of the Coronavirus disrupted the economic life of many countries. The primary purpose of the paper is to measure the impacts of intra-regional trade and investment on the green recovery of five Central Asian economies over 2010–2021 through employing annual data and the panel co-integration approach. The results confirmed that the degree of green trade openness positively and significantly affects the green recovery. The estimated coefficient of direct foreign investment is negative. The patent coefficient is not statistically significant, and the official exchange rate has a positive effect. Financial development has a positive and significant coefficient. The paper has several policy implications, such as enhancing green FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), supporting green innovation, and promoting green trade liberalism for scholars and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines monetary policy spillovers from the US and the People's Republic of China (PRC) to real and financial sectors in advanced and emerging Asian economies over the period 2000 to 2020. Using a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) approach, we find that Asian economies overall are more susceptible to spillovers to GDP, inflation, and the current account emanating from monetary policy shocks in the PRC than to those from the US. This is related to high inter-regional trade integration in Asia and is in line with previous research findings. However, while the prevailing literature has highlighted the dominant role of US monetary policy as a transmitter of shocks to global and Asian financial markets, we find more persistence in the response of advanced Asian interest rates to PRC monetary policy shocks. In addition, emerging Asian economies are found to be more susceptible to shocks emanating from the PRC in respect of equity markets and exchange rates. The rising synchronization of Asian financial markets in relation to the PRC as the financial account in the PRC has gradually opened as well as indirect effects via trade and regional value chains help to rationalize our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of credit flows, both at the aggregated and disaggregated level, on current account balances for five Southeast Asian economies. Evidence shows that total credit flows improve the current account position, especially in India and Indonesia, in the presence of adequate financial development. Nevertheless, for China, we find that credit flows lead to a decline in current account balances. When disaggregating the total credit flows, in the case of China, we find that household credit negatively influences the current account balance while the bank and business do not have any significant effect. Similarly, for India, we find that most of the improvement in the current account from credit flows comes from household and bank credit. Interestingly, in the case of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, we find evidence of aggregation bias. The asymmetric impact of disaggregated credit flows implies that policy prescriptions based on aggregate credit flows may be ill-advised and macroeconomic policymakers must implement targeted measures for different types of credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper evaluates the natural rate of interest (NRI) for Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, [Taipei, China], and Thailand and aggregates them using a GDP-weighted average. This paper discusses four key points. Firstly, to estimate the NRI in emerging Asian economies, this paper introduces a Time Varying Parameter Vector Autoregression (TVP-VAR) model that integrates exchange rates alongside conventional growth and inflation variables. Secondly, the results show that NRIs in the emerging Asia have been declining in trend since the 1990s. Thirdly, the behavior of the NRI for each economy is not uniform across crises—the Asian Financial Crisis, the Global Financial Crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Fourthly, the findings reveal that the ascertained Asian NRI decreased to the vicinity of 0% during the COVID-19 pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on Asian economies over the period 2006 to 2019, we find that while non-bank finance appears to complement rather than substitute credit provision by the traditional banking sector, weaker regulatory quality is an important driving factor. Moreover, while we find that central bank policy rates countercyclically affect credit provision by non-banks, impulse responses to monetary policy shocks with and without non-bank finance indicate that the effectiveness of monetary policy as a transmission channel to GDP growth, inflation, house prices, and traditional bank credit is weakened in the presence of non-bank finance. Our paper has implications for monetary policy implementation, potentially incorporating non-banks into central bank operations and liquidity provision, as well as for financial supervisors on mitigating regulatory arbitrage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing relevance of the Asian context in foreign entry mode choice (FEMC) research over the previous two decades, the underrepresentation of authors affiliated with emerging contexts is surprising, necessitating a granular investigation. Using advanced bibliometric techniques, this study first highlights the representativeness gap of authors affiliated with Asian economies and then maps the conceptual and intellectual structure of FEMC research. The findings indicate that while issues related to emerging Asian contexts have gained traction, the authors affiliated with Asian institutes are highly under-represented. The analysis of 982 papers retrieved from the Web of Science and published between 2001 and 2021 shows that while North American (30%) and European affiliations (43%) account for 73% of author appearances, Asian affiliations (7.9%) are underrepresented, except for China. Given the strong link between context-sensitivity and affiliation, researchers affiliated with emerging contexts may be better positioned to portray the context-sensitivity of the FEMC construct by granularly investigating the intricacies and subtleties that are unique to these contexts. Insights from conceptual thematic analysis point to research gaps and opportunities. The practical implications for the Asian context lie in giving voice to authors from these contexts to capture the contextsensitivity of the FEMC construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the two main viewpoints on Australia's relationship with Asia; first, the highly visible informed pro-Asia protagonists, and second, pervasive public opinion as informed by history and the Australian self-image. The purpose is to present the polemic internal to Asian Studies and Business Schools currently. This paper postulates that only an (uncomfortable) whole-of-sector introspection would result in an authentic national narrative to drive mutual respect and business between Asia and Australia. Design/methodology/approach: The current dismembering of Asian Studies degrees and Asian Business specialisations at Australian universities indicates a waning national support to the production of Asian specialists able to link the Australian economy into the advancing Asian commercial dominance. But such an assessment would not be completely accurate. The authors argue that as an important component of Asian business and economics, understanding the current situation is vital to breathing life back into the Asian Studies and Asian Business Studies disciplines at Australian national universities. Findings: This paper concludes that the responsibility for creating specialists should fall to the university sector but is currently defaulting to the business sector. This paper proposes that business schools need to be more active participants in Asian engagement strategies. Thus, Australian universities and disciplines such as Asian Studies and Asian Business must have the academic will and the business support to take up a major role in positive evolution of the Eurocentric elements that currently hold back meaningful engagement. Originality/value: This is a current issue that needs to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the premise of the detrimental effects of carbon emission on the global climate, the role of governments in promoting clean energy investment has become more important, and monetary policy as one government tool has drawn greater attention among the public. Our research successfully develops a new model that links clean energy investments with monetary policies and carbon emissions in 9 Asian economies spanning the period from 1996 to 2018. First, from the results of cointegration tests, we find a long-term relationship among the variables. Second, using FMOLS estimators, our paper reveals that expansionary monetary policy promotes clean energy investment and that its effect is stronger in developing countries. Third, we find a positive relationship between CO2 emissions and clean energy investment in the full sample but the relationship becomes negative in developing countries. Accordingly, the paper offers suggestions on possible policy initiatives to improve clean energy investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nonlinear effects of public debt on economic growth in Asian developing economies through the application of panel Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) regressions and panel vector autoregression (VAR) models. Our analysis reveals a statistically significant nonlinear (i.e., an inverted U-shape) relationship between public debt (as a percentage of GDP) and GDP per capita growth. The turning points are identified at 52 percent for all Asian developing economies and 50 percent for Asian coastal developing economies. Asymmetric mutual feedback effects are observed between economic growth and public debt, contingent on the level of public debt. These two-way effects are both statistically significant and more pronounced when public debt surpasses its threshold level. Additionally, our results unveil geographical (cross-country) heterogeneity in the mutual feedback effects. These findings carry significant policy implications, emphasizing the necessity of employing region-specific debt threshold levels and asymmetric response coefficients in the analysis of public debt policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a call for global efforts to preserve the ecological systems that can sustain economies and people's lives. However, carbon emission (CEM) threatens the sustainability of humanity and ecological systems. This analysis looked into the influence of energy use (ERU), human capital (HCI), trade openness (TOP), natural resource (NRR), population, and economic growth (ENG) on CEM. The paper gathered panel data from the Central Asia region from 1990 to 2020. The CS-ARDL was applied to establish the long-term interaction among the indicators. The paper's findings indicated the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in the Central Asia regions. Also, the empirical evidence highlighted that energy use, natural resources, and trade openness cause higher levels of CEM. However, the research verified that CEM can be improved through human capital and urban population growth. The study also found that HCI moderates the interaction between NRR and CEM. The causality assessment indicated a one-way interplay between ENG, ERU, NRR, and CEM. The study proposes that to support ecological stability in these regions, policy-makers should concentrate on developing human capital, investing in renewable energy sources, and utilizing contemporary technologies to harness natural resources in the economies of Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few decades, most of the emerging market economies (EMEs) have adopted financial liberalization. Evidence shows that the financial sectors/institutions in emerging economies were either underdeveloped or functioning with a lot of inefficiencies under inadequate regulation. The paper examines whether liberalization in the financial sector has led to financial development for a bunch of EMEs including BRICS. The paper differs from the existing literature in its approach of dealing with the measurements of financial development and considering financial liberalization as a gradual process. Panel regressions are estimated for 9 countries based on 22 years' data for four aspects of financial development, viz. depth, efficiency, stability and competition. Results indicate that financial liberalization in terms of freedom in capital markets has a positive effect on financial depth and competition, whereas liberalization from government interference in the banks and other financial institutions has a positive impact on the stability of the financial sector. Trade openness has a role in enhancing the efficiency of the financial sector. Also, evidence suggests that capital account openness leads to increased depth and does not destabilize the financial sector. GDP, political stability, regulatory quality and government effectiveness are also important factors in influencing more than one aspect of financial development in a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces that the Program Committee of the 12th International Convention of the East Asian Economic Association Convention is calling for papers related to its theme "Asia and the Global Economic Recovery." Possible topics for thematic sessions include economic integration, multinationals, global imbalances, and multinationals while for general sessions include exchange rates, labor and human resources, and financial institutions and markets. It is noted that the convention will be held in Seoul, Korea on October 2 and 3, 2010.

The reduction of carbon emissions has become an important climate issue worldwide. However, the diversity of carbon trading systems and the differentiation policy may generate incomparable carbon abatement costs across regions and countries. Based on the nonparametric model, this paper investigates the shadow price of carbon emissions and energy structure in 38 Asian countries from 1991 to 2019. The main findings of this paper are as follows: (1) The annual average shadow price of carbon emissions experienced a fluctuating decline for Asian countries during the period 1991–2000, followed by a continuous rise and then a fluctuating decline. (2) Industrialization may lead to a decline in carbon shadow price, while urbanization may lead to a rise in the opportunity cost of carbon reduction. (3) The carbon shadow price in countries of Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is lower than that in non-APEC countries. (4) The structure of energy consumption is negatively related to marginal abatement costs, while on the contrary, the coefficients of the level of human resources are significantly positive. We also derive corresponding policy measures to promote intra-regional emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of Japanese direct investment in ASEAN and how that is associated with the growth of trade between these economic giants. ASEAN or Association of Southeast Asian Nations economies developed rapidly since the 1980s primarily due to the heavy inflows of foreign direct investments (FDIs). With the introduction of export-oriented industries (EOI), which was the Association's main development strategy in the late 1960s, the economies began punching above their weight globally in terms of their exports and FDI inflows. The region has been a leading destination of multinational enterprises for at least three decades. The main driver of growth and expansion of EOI industries and trade is the heavy inflow of Japanese FDI. However, the emergence of China as an economic powerhouse has affected the inflow of FDI into ASEAN as its traditional investors have begun to look to the former. The findings of this paper suggest that China's emergence has led to a decline in ASEAN's economic growth rate and dented the expansion of their manufacturing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The business of providing, under an agreement, the service of retrieving or collecting economic facts about its customers that may be unique through periodic FIPs; and combining, organizing, and providing, to the FIUs, such information that may be unique via periodic FIPs with the express consent of the customers. The customer's economic data, however, will no longer be NBFC-AA's property and cannot be utilised in any other way.. The home loan marketplace in India is expected to grow over $300 billion, which indicates a mortgage-to-GDP ratio of 11%. Favorable situations like growing earnings stages, progressed affordability, and financial assistance for the demand for homes as actual property in India is on an uptrend, builders are now financially stronger. while comparing to Asian economies, loan-to-GDP ratios range between 20-30 percent This paper discusses the role, challenges and opportunities for the customers and the companies to implement account aggregators for a smooth process and better returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the dynamic impact of GVCs on productivity growth in 14 Asian economies, from 1995 to 2016. OECD and Asia Productivity Organisation data show that in the last few decades there has been a rapid expansion of GVCs in the majority of the Asian economies. We employ the panel Auto-regressive Distributed Lag method to empirically evaluate the impact of GVCs participation on 'total factor productivity growth' and 'labor productivity growth'. The empirical results point to the significant effect of GVCs on domestic productivity growth in the long run in the selected Asian economies, while the effect on labor productivity growth is larger than that on total factor productivity growth. However, GVCs does not affect it in the short-run. If excluded the six high-income economies and only focused on the middle-income countries, we find forward GVCs promotes domestic productivity in long run, while the backward GVCs does not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of local currency bond markets (LCBMs) and foreign investor participation in these markets in capital flow volatility in emerging Asian economies over the period 1999 to 2020. Using a panel analysis and impulse response functions generated from a panel structural vector autoregression, we show that greater development of LCBMs across 10 Asian emerging economies in terms of capitalization helps to mitigate against the capital flow volatility, while foreign investor participation has the opposite effect, particularly for less developed LCBMs. Our findings have policy implications from a financial stability perspective, whereby continued efforts to enhance LCBMs while reducing reliance on foreign investors should be encouraged. Strengthening the local investor base and mobilizing domestic resources through LCBMs ought to be a priority for raising long-term capital that will enable the financing of sustainable investment and development. Our findings also suggest that greater efforts are needed to enhance foreign exchange hedging arrangements for foreign investors in LCBMs, particularly in times of heightened financial stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a spike in financial market volatility. In this paper, we attempt to assess the effects of financial & news-driven uncertainty shocks in growing Asian economies, using country-specific bond volatility shocks as a measure of local interest rate uncertainty. Also, we contrast the effects of local uncertainty with global stock market uncertainty. Using bond market data from nine Asian markets, we uncover a transmission mechanism of uncertainty shocks via the bond market. The mechanism works as a crowding-out effect due to government-led excessive market borrowing with supply-side consequences for the private sector, as opposed to economic policy or global stock market uncertainty which works more like a demand shock as in the literature. We conclude that countries with growing fiscal deficits that entail a larger government bond market or higher current account deficits, tend to experience an increase in the cost of borrowing due to this bond market volatility or interest rate uncertainty shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exchange rate is a crucial macro indicator for any open economy, whereby any change in the rate would influence, to a certain extent, various socioeconomic facets. One of the significant impacts is revealed in the pass-through of exchange rate variations to price inflation, also known as the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT). This paper explores the effect of ERPT on domestic inflation in Vietnam by comparing with other Asian economies. Specifically, pass-through mechanisms are examined for every single price as well as a distribution chain from import price index (IMP), producer price index (PPI) to consumer price index (CPI). The empirical results show that exchange rate shocks positively influence the price changes in Vietnam as well as in other Asian countries. According to Cholesky decomposition, the exchange rate plays a limited role in regulating CPI movements. Besides, world commodity prices are found to have a significant impact on domestic inflation across the sample-countries. Our findings reveal profound implications for monetary policy management and price stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze and empirically test the impact of Economic Freedom [(EF) measured by size of the government] and inequality on environmental pollutants in addition to macroeconomic variables like per capita GDP, governance indicators, etc. along with existence of non-linear (Kuznets) postulation between economic growth and per capita emissions. Design/methodology/approach: The paper examines the select Asian nations' data attributes, first qualitatively using correlation data technique, followed by empirical testing using differenced Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM). Using the data of selected Asian countries for the period from 1981 to 2016, the authors have applied a dynamic panel technique. Findings: The key findings that emerge from the study are as follows: first, there is weak evidence for the existence of the Kuznets curve based on the empirical results; second, the results indicate that increased EF (by lower government size) could enable to contain carbon emissions; third, there is a negative relationship between democracy and environmental quality (corroborating to the existing studies on carbon emissions); and fourth, there is a strong statistical evidence that increasing income inequality pairs with greater emissions in the middle range of Gini. Practical implications: The paper conforms to the universally held conviction that government interventions are essentially less productive and the desirability of a reduced size of the government in realizing sustainable green growth with equity. Social implications: In an era of liberalization and privatization, it is argued that the role of the government needs to be redefined if not necessarily truncated. Originality/value: The current paper incorporates Gini (inequality measure) through its intercountry range dummies to study the differential effect of Gini on carbon emissions. Also, in some of the recent studies, distributional issues have surfaced explicitly in the discussion of income–climatic change relationship, but EF largely remains missing. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the same empirically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper examines the effect of bank-specific, financial structure and macroeconomic factors on the profitability of banks in Asian economies during 1995–2017. Design/methodology/approach: It uses the data of 2,446 banks across 47 Asian countries between 1995 and 2017 (41,582 year observations). The static and dynamic panel generalized methods of moments (GMM) estimation techniques are applied. Findings: The results show that banks that are highly dependent on nontraditional activities have lower net interest revenue and net interest margin but higher return on assets, return on equity and profit before tax. Higher opportunity cost, capitalization, demand deposits and market risk result in a better bank profits. Furthermore, banks with higher loan exposure and growth have more profit. However, nonperforming loans have negative and significant impact on bank profitability. Asian banks do not suffer from diseconomies of scale and scope. The author also finds that banks located in countries with high gross domestic product, inflation rates and high rates of interest or in financially developed economies offer better profits. High credit to the private sector reduces the bank profitability. This study finds evidence to support the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) hypothesis. It also provides evidence that the impact of financial turmoil on the profitability of the Asian banking sector is negative and significant and has severely weakened the Asian banking system. Originality/value: As Asia has become an important economic area and the Asian topic has not earned enough discussions, this paper is the first to examine Asian banks with the latest and a wider range of panel data that cover 2,446 banks at 47 Asian countries over the period 1995–2017. The present study is among the first to address the influence of financial turmoil on bank profitability in this region. It also studies new variables, such as demand deposits, opportunity cost and off-balance sheet activities, which have not been examined in relation to bank profitability. It also applies both static techniques and dynamic panel estimation techniques to analyze the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the empirical determinants of exchange-rate volatility (ERV) in selected Asian economies, namely, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan. Specifically, it examines how the volatility of foreign reserves, government spending, industrial production, gold prices and terms of trade affect monthly ERV during the examined period. Design/methodology/approach: The authors carry out the empirical analysis by using monthly data for the period January 1997–March 2019. First, the volatility of the underlying variables is measured based on the conditional variances obtained by estimating the univariate (generalized) autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity [(G)ARCH] model for each variable during the study period. Next, the autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH)-Lagrange multiplier test is applied to ensure that there are no remaining ARCH effects in the residuals. Finally, the multivariate autoregressive-moving average-GARCH (1, 1) models are estimated to examine whether and how the volatility of the underlying variables affects ERV. Findings: The results reveal that the current period volatility of exchange rates is significantly affected by ERV in the previous period in all selected countries. The results also indicate that the volatilities of the underlying macroeconomic variables are quite differently related to ERV in examined Asian countries. Foreign-reserve volatility (VFXRES) has negative and significant impacts on ERV in Bangladesh, China and Malaysia. Government-spending volatility is negatively related to ERV in India, whereas it is positively related to ERV in all other examined countries. The results also suggest that although terms-of-trade volatility reduces ERV in both Bangladesh and Pakistan, it amplifies ERV in the remaining examined countries. However, gold-price volatility (VGOLDP) significantly, positively contributes to ERV in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia. On the contrary, the higher volatility in industrial production (VIPI) results in lower ERV in Indonesia and Pakistan, whereas it increases ERV in China, India and Malaysia. Practical implications: The findings have several important policy implications. First, the findings suggest that both Bangladesh and Malaysia should keep an adequate level of foreign reserves to stabilize their foreign exchange rates. Second, as government-spending volatility has a vital role in determining ERV, it is necessary to bring sustainability and continuity in government expenditures. Bangladesh and Pakistan can stabilize their foreign exchange rates by making exports more competitive, viable and accessible. Originality/value: This paper significantly contributes to the existing literature by exploring how the behavior of unexpected variations in the factors determining exchange rates affects ERV in selected Asia countries. Most of the published studies have examined the determinants of exchange rates by considering the macroeconomic variables at their levels. Departing from the existing studies, this paper significantly relates the volatility (second moment) of exchange rate determinants to the behavior of ERV. Further, this paper provides firsthand empirical evidence on this issue for the selected Asian economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes an institutional approach to inequality in Thailand by exploring the country's structural and regulatory transformations. It discusses how Thailand's transition from agriculture to industry and services has been impeded by both the demand and supply sides of government subsidies since the 1950s. The relative failure of structural transformation has slowed down economic catch‐up and widened the well‐being gap between those inside and outside the agricultural sector. Furthermore, while regulatory transformation has mitigated state‐led malaise in certain Asian economies, post‐1997 reform in Thailand has incentivized unconventional political actors, such as academics, medical doctors and civil society leaders, to make collective efforts in toppling elected governments in exchange for gaining selection into oversight agencies. The case of Thailand indicates how regulatory reform may create perverse incentives that adversely affect democratization, decentralization, competition, and taxation. Dealing with inequality therefore requires a big push toward progressive structural and regulatory transformations altogether. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue examines the recent trends and impacts of financial development in Asia and its implications for regional studies in this rapidly growing region. This editorial introduces the dynamics of the financial landscape in Asia and its growing influence in global finance. Overall, the papers in this special issue highlight the important roles of both the local institutional contexts and global capital markets in shaping new financial geographies in Asia. The conclusion offers some critical reflection on 'Asia' as a working category in examining financial networks and practices, and identifies some key research strands for understanding future financial development in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to empirically shed light on the pertinence of enhancing trade and foreign capital flows with relevance to stimulating greater use of renewable energy resources across selected South Asian economies namely Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The economic transition from the use of non‐renewable energy tothe renewable alternatives is an interesting genre of research keeping the partial attainment of the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda into consideration. Against this milieu, trade and financial liberalization policies are anticipated to play a pivotal role in facilitating the renewable energy transition phenomenon across South Asia. The overall results from the econometric analyses imply that higher degrees of trade openness and greater foreign currency inflows can invariably play critically important roles in amplifying the shares of renewables in the total energy consumption levels across this region. Thus, these findings impose key policy implications for attainment of energy sustainability across South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper looks into the factors which have prevented large-scale or desirable level of economic integration between South and Central Asian economies and analysing the cost of this lack of economic integration in the backdrop of immense potential of inter-regional trade, energy supply from the former to the latter and opportunities of the overall economic integration and development. Even after three decades of the Central Asian Republics' (CARs) independence, South Asian countries, particularly Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, have failed to access and utilize the vast hydrocarbon reserves and economic opportunities offered by Central Asia by linking their economies to the latter. Central Asia once served as an important commercial hub of the old Silk Route and is a vital intersection in Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) which not only aims at connecting China with West Asia, South Asia and Europe but also all-out interregional connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unemployment is one of the biggest macroeconomic issues, and economists and policymakers have provided various options to tackle this menace. Financial inclusion and remittances are an important part of any economy and help increase the level of employment. However, despite extensive research, several gaps and issues in understanding the intricate relationship between financial inclusion, workers' remittances, and the unemployment rate in Asian economies persist. This paper seeks to bridge these gaps and address the issues by examining the relationship between financial inclusion, workers' remittances, and the unemployment rate in Asian economies using rigorous econometric methodologies, such as two-stage least squares (2SLS) and generalized method of moments (GMM) methods. The findings of 2SLS and GMM demonstrate that ATM, remittances, internet users, GDP, and financial globalization adversely influence the unemployment levels in Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, West & Middle East Asia, and South Asia in 2SLS and GMM models. However, the influence of inflation on the unemployment level is favourable in some regions. Therefore, it is important to give priority to policies that encourage financial inclusion, such as increasing underprivileged populations' access to banking services, credit, and insurance. Moreover, reducing transaction costs, streamlining money transfers, and promoting formal remittance channels can boost remittances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For rapidly urbanizing countries in Asia, entrepreneurial activity is a critical source of employment and economic development. This paper uses a panel dataset of 20 countries in Asia to examine the role of urbanization in moderating the process of knowledge spillovers leading to firm creation. It is one of the pioneering studies to examine whether the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship (KSTE)—a prominent and empirically valid theory in Western economies—is also valid in Asian economies. Empirical analysis reveals that the extent and quality of urbanization plays an important moderating role that can enhance or retard the exploitation of knowledge by urban entrepreneurs. The paper has important policy implications for Asian countries to take advantage of rapid urbanization and make investments in research and development to create knowledge spillovers that promote firm creation. Plain English Summary: This study finds that a confluence of investment in research and development and the quality of urbanization in Asian countries boost firm creation. Moreover, employment in financial and business services helps in the creation and exchange of useful knowledge for entrepreneurial activities. This workforce acquires and generates knowledge to resolve challenges in business through interactions with multiple firms. It is important to understand the factors leading to a higher level of firm creation because the entry of new firms is one of the key sources of job creation and innovation. The principal implication of this study is that the countries should make investments in research and development and improve the quality and extent of urbanization to spur entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the persistence of research intensity in the OECD over the period 1870–2018. The goal is to test if the conclusion of the study conducted by Ang and Madsen (Ang, J. B., & Madsen, J. B. (2011). Can second‐generation endogenous growth models explain the productivity trends and knowledge production in the Asian miracle economies? The Review of Economics and Statistics 2011, 93(4), 1360–1373), namely that the Schumpeterian growth models predict that research intensity is stationary, is correct. Using fractional integration methods on annual research intensity from 16 OECD countries, we observe that the series are very persistent. The order of integration is observed to be statistically higher than 1 in all the countries except Spain, rejecting thus the hypothesis of stationarity. When the likelihood of non‐linear trends is considered in the analysis, the results are not materially different. An implication of the results is that policies aimed at boosting research activities will have a long‐term impact on research intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economies all over the world that have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have recently started to devise different strategies to mitigate its consequences. Therefore, in order to dwell deeper into the measures taken by the policy makers around the world, this paper specifically analyzes how the monetary policies have been devised, in response to COVID-19. For this purpose, this paper has taken into consideration a panel of 8 Asian economies that have been affected the most acutely by the virus, have faced multiple lockdowns, and have also experienced other economic restraints, due to this very phenomenon. In order to compare the possible monetary policy options, and their outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper refers to the global recession shock, as a valid point of reference. In addition to this, in order to gain access to the empirical evidence, the ARDL methodology has been applied on the quarterly data from 2005Q3 to 2020Q3. The results of the study have indicated that various plans have been taken into consideration, so as to lessen the consequences of these shocks that have trickled down into the respective economies of these countries. That is to put forth that, in the incidence of global recession, the monetary authorities have resorted to a less prudent stance. Whereas, more flexibility, through a persistent decrease in the policy rate has been observed since the pandemic first hit the world. In this regard, our results imply that a successful, efficient and effective response to the economic consequences of COVID-19, would ideally entail a set of remedial policies and structural reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: China has emerged as an undisputed leader of global business and as a preferred hub for global value chains. However, recent threats of the trade war, the allegation of violation of intellectual property rights and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to have dampened China's attractiveness. Multinational corporations may be contemplating diversifying their dependence on China – a strategy known as "China-Plus-One". What could be possible destinations in Asia for such a diversification strategy? Design/methodology/approach: Towards understanding the "China-Plus-One" phenomenon, the authors use a methodology of arriving at an aggregate ranking of the major economies of emerging Asia. This is built on a few standard indices such as World Bank's Logistic Performance Index; World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Indicator; World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index; Economic Complexity Index of the Harvard University; Economist Magazine's Country Rating of Financial Strength; and Corruption Perception Index compiled by the Transparency International. Accordingly, the authors rank seven countries (namely, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Bangladesh) next to China as possible destinations for selecting the "Plus one" country. Findings: In the aggregate ranking, China ranks first followed by Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and then Bangladesh. This sequence gives some pointers on the possible shifts from China as potential hubs of global value chains. The authors observe the following: first, it is challenging to move away from China in the short run; second, corporations could pursue a "China-plus-One" strategy, whereby they may move marginally from China and relocate part of their supply chain elsewhere; third, in looking for alternative locations, corporations may look for the following countries in emerging Asia, namely, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Bangladesh. Originality/value: The aggregate ranking method applied in this paper is one of the first applications in the context of ranking developing Asian economies based on economic, logistics, supply chain, financial and corruption metrics. It is one of the first conceptual works in the domain of identifying possible diversification options for the "China-Plus-One" strategy that can be extended to include many context-specific rankings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the influence of regional import shocks from low‐wage countries on electoral support for European social democratic parties in 289 NUTS2 regions (2002–2022). The estimates suggest that a one standard deviation increase in the import shock from low‐wage countries over an election period may lead to a decline in support for social democratic parties between 0.6 and 1.2 percentage points. Similar results also apply to imports from Asian economies, such as China and India. The negative impact on electoral support for social democratic parties is amplified in moderately industrial and predominantly rural regions. For the former, the decline in industrial employment led to a shift of social democratic voters to the radical right. In contrast, in the latter case, the relatively slower growth of employment in the tertiary and quaternary sectors and the peripheral position of these regions caused a shift to the radical left. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the national saving behaviour in the process of economic growth through a comparative analysis of countries in developing Asia from a historical perspective. Developing Asia provides an ideal laboratory for the study with considerable differences in the saving behaviour among countries and over time within individual countries, notwithstanding the 'model saver' image of the region that is based mainly on the experience of high-performing East Asian economies. The empirical analysis distinguishes between private and government saving rates, with specific emphasis on the former. The results of the empirical analysis are consistent with the view of a 'virtuous circle' between growth and saving, with growth initiating the saving transition. No evidence to suggest that a prior phase of promoting saving through specific policy initiatives is needed to initiate the process of growth and structural transformation. The private saving rate is also associated positively with export orientation of the economy, and net foreign capital inflows and negatively with the young dependency ratio of the population and domestic credit availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies 10 Asian economies' experiences during two episodes of financial crises in 1997–08 and 2007–09. Our analysis of five crisis‐hit Asian countries shows that overinvestment via credit expansion and foreign financing has an adverse effect on banking sectors while income inequality contributes significantly to financial distress. With five no‐crisis emerging markets included in our Asia analysis, we find that export‐oriented growth backed up by domestic savings is financially less risky than investment‐led growth facilitated by capital inflows. Since such different strategies of output growth to deal with falling demand are related ultimately to the same factor–rising inequality, this distributional problem must be overcome effectively to enhance financial stability and ensure growth sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial summarizes a special issue of the Singapore Economic Review on Monetary Policy issues. The issue includes 15 papers covering various sub-themes within the field of monetary policy macroeconomics. The papers explore topics such as the effectiveness of macroprudential policies in emerging markets, the role of local currency bond markets in capital flow volatility, the impact of trade conflicts on monetary policy, and the monetary policy response to COVID-19. The editorial also highlights areas for future research, including the effectiveness of macroprudential policies, the coordination of monetary and fiscal policy, and the relationship between monetary policy and inequality. [Extracted from the article]