|
on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Isik-Dikmelik, Aylin |
| Abstract: | Social benefits can potentially play an important role in protecting the poor and minimizing the impacts of an economic crisis. While many studies estimate the impacts of a crisis, there is little evidence of the actual response of social safety nets to systematic shocks. This study traces the response of social benefits during the 2008-10 global crisis for 14 countries in Europe and Central Asia (ECA). The study first sets out a framework for defining the'expected'response of social benefits covering an assessment of pre-crisis preparedness of social benefits and the severity of the crisis for all countries in the ECA region to provide the context; and then develops a typology of all countries categorized by expected response. Using this typology the study analyzes the monthly administrative data on the observed patterns within social benefit programs. Main findings indicate that actual responses were largely in line with expectations. Pre-crisis preparedness clearly influenced the ability of social benefits to respond to the crisis. Unemployment benefits were generally the first line of response in countries that have them, while social assistance programs also expanded coverage during the crisis. Lessons learned from the 2008?2010 global crisis (such as the importance of structural reform, design, and implementation which affect the success of social benefits programs in crisis response) are also presented. The study concludes with some policy recommendations to help ECA countries prepare for future crises. |
| Keywords: | Safety Nets and Transfers,Social Protections&Assistance,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Gender and Law |
| Date: | 2012–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:73696&r=cwa |
| By: | Hal Hill (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)); Jayant Menon |
| Abstract: | Financial safety nets in Asia have come a long way since the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) of 1997–98. Not wanting to rely solely on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) again, the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) was created in 2000. When the CMI also proved inadequate following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), it was first multilateralized (CMIM), and then doubled in size to $240 billion, while the IMF de-linked portion was increased to 30%. A surveillance unit, the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), was set-up in 2011. These are impressive developments, but are they enough to make the CMIM workable? Without clear and rapid-response procedures to handle a fast-developing financial emergency, it is unlikely that the CMIM will be used even as a complement to the IMF. To serve as a stand-alone option however, its size or the IMF de-linked portion of funds needs to be further increased, as does its membership to add diversity. But if AMRO could develop into an independent and credible surveillance authority, then it could lead the next rescue. |
| Keywords: | Financial Safety Nets, Asia, global financial crisis, CMIM, IMF, AMRO, surveillance authority |
| JEL: | F32 F33 F34 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:govern:23355&r=cwa |
| By: | Conor M. O.Toole |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the effect of financial liberalisation on access to investment finance using firm level data covering 57 developing and transition countries. An index is presented which measures financial market liberalisation along the following pol |
| Keywords: | Financial liberalisation, access to credit, firm level investment |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2012-67&r=cwa |
| By: | Michael G. Plummer (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers emerging commercial policy challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region in light of the impasse reached at the Eighth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Meeting in December 2011. It underscores that, while marginal liberalization of trade barriers under the Doha Development Agenda may not be forthcoming in the short- or even medium-term, the WTO has been successful in erecting a rules-based system of global governance and continues to be extremely important to the future health of the international trading system. Nevertheless, one can expect the current trend toward bilateral and regional free-trade areas (FTAs) will continue, particularly since it is easier to make progress toward “deep integration†in a smaller group of like-minded countries than in the context of the general WTO membership. This paper considers how the FTA trend is developing in the Asia-Pacific region and what its prospects are in the future. It stresses that regional—as opposed to bilateral—arrangements will be essential to the region for economic (e.g., supporting regional production networks) as well as diplomatic-political goals. This “new regionalism,†which has been supported by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), will lead to significant reductions in the costs associated with bilateral FTAs (e.g., lower costs associated with rules of origin, improved utilization rates) and has many advantages over “noodle-bowl†bilateralism. |
| Keywords: | Post-Doha Agenda, New Regionalism, the Asia-Pacific, commercial policy, FTA trend, APEC, “noodle-bowl†bilateralism |
| JEL: | F13 F15 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:tradew:23345&r=cwa |
| By: | Thomas F. Huertas |
| Abstract: | None |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fmg:fmgsps:sp213&r=cwa |
| By: | Tarisa Watanagase (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the relevance of Basel III to Asian emerging markets. It reviews some of the proposed regulations of Basel III in order to evaluate their likely implications for, and their ability to enhance, the stability of the banking and financial system. This is followed by a discussion on the challenges faced by the regulators of Asian emerging markets in effectively managing their financial regulations, given their capacity and institutional constraints. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for Asian emerging markets to strengthen and enhance the stability of their banking and financial systems. |
| Keywords: | Global Financial Regulatory Landscape, Asian Emerging Markets, Basel, banking and financial systems |
| JEL: | E52 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:govern:23351&r=cwa |
| By: | Marjit, Sugata |
| Abstract: | In the presence of inequality a status-driven utility function reconciles the conflict between income-based and nutrition-based measures of poverty. Moreover, it can explain why the poor tend to save less, an established empirical fact in the developing c |
| Keywords: | inequality, inter-temporal consumer choice, utility, poverty |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2012-58&r=cwa |
| By: | Fields, Gary |
| Abstract: | Various development objectives are worthy, but to my mind, one objective dominates all others: reducing the scourge of absolute economic misery in the world. In this paper, I focus on an important but relatively underemphasized approach to poverty reducti |
| Keywords: | foreign assistance, economic growth, employment, poverty, developing countries |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2012-86&r=cwa |
| By: | ICHIJO Kazuo |
| Abstract: | Rapid economic growth and globalization in Asia are driving new investment opportunities and intensifying competition. To sustain competitive advantage in this new business environment, which is marked by both fierce competition and unprecedented opportunities for collaboration, business leaders must expand their vision beyond their local markets and industries to the rest of Asia and the world.<br />As Japan's population declines and ages and the yen continues to appreciate rapidly, attention is being drawn to the rapid growth of emerging markets, especially in Asia. Confronted with these new circumstances, many Japanese companies have adopted the "expansion of business overseas" as their growth strategy, but this is a very steep path to climb. However, successful cases of growing business in Asian countries are emerging.<br />In this RIETI discussion paper, we will introduce successful cases of business growth by Japanese companies in Asia, especially in China and India. Key lessons from these cases are as follows: allowing globalization to drive a new business model; hybridization of the new business model and the existing business model, and effective human resource management. |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:12074&r=cwa |
| By: | David, Anda Mariana; Marouani, Mohamed Ali |
| Abstract: | The aim of this article is to analyse in depth the interactions of growth and poverty in Syria, which undertook reforms to reduce the government's involvement in the economy. During the 1996–2004 period, growth was pro-poor in ‘weak absolute’ terms but not in either relative or ‘strong absolute’ terms, owing to the increase in inequality. This can be explained partly by tax policies, but also by an unequal distribution of investment at the regional level. There was also a widening of the gap between urban and rural areas, mainly owing to a pattern of growth in which oil played an increasing role and agriculture a decreasing one. Agricultural and land-policy reforms could have had a negative impact on poverty, despite their positive effect on productivity. |
| Keywords: | Syrie et Moyen Orient; croissance pro-pauvres; Inégalité; Pauvreté; Syria and MENA; Pro-Poor Growth; Inequality; Poverty; |
| JEL: | O40 I32 D63 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/4543&r=cwa |
| By: | Edward N. Wolff |
| Abstract: | I find that median wealth plummeted over the years 2007 to 2010, and by 2010 was at its lowest level since 1969. The inequality of net worth, after almost two decades of little movement, was up sharply from 2007 to 2010. Relative indebtedness continued to expand from 2007 to 2010, particularly for the middle class, though the proximate causes were declining net worth and income rather than an increase in absolute indebtedness. In fact, the average debt of the middle class actually fell in real terms by 25 percent. The sharp fall in median wealth and the rise in inequality in the late 2000s are traceable to the high leverage of middle class families in 2007 and the high share of homes in their portfolio. The racial and ethnic disparity in wealth holdings, after remaining more or less stable from 1983 to 2007, widened considerably between 2007 and 2010. Hispanics, in particular, got hammered by the Great Recession in terms of net worth and net equity in their homes. Households under age 45 also got pummeled by the Great Recession, as their relative and absolute wealth declined sharply from 2007 to 2010. |
| JEL: | D31 J15 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18559&r=cwa |