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on South East Asia |
| By: | Heng, Pek Koon (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | The paper argues that United States (US) participation in the East Asia Summit (EAS)—regional integration architecture led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)—was motivated by four changes in the regional economic landscape: (i) the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and emergence of the ASEAN+3 grouping; (ii) the rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the leading regional growth engine and an active player in regional integration arrangements; (iii) the failure of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) arrangement to foster trade liberalization in the region; and (iv) the inability of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Development Round to lower global trade barriers significantly. |
| Keywords: | east asia summit; eas; asean; asian financial crisis; wto; doha development round |
| JEL: | F13 F15 F18 F55 F59 |
| Date: | 2012–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0367&r=sea |
| By: | Anderson, Kym (Asian Development Bank Institute); Strutt, Anna (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | Rapid trade-led economic growth in emerging Asia has been shifting the global economic and industrial centres of gravity away from the north Atlantic, raising the importance of Asia in world trade but also altering the commodity composition of trade by Asia and other regions. What began with Japan in the 1950s and the Republic of Korea and Taipei,China from the late 1960s has spread to the much more populous ASEAN region, the People’s Republic of China, and India. This paper examines how that growth and associated structural changes are altering agricultural markets in particular and thereby food security. |
| Keywords: | asia; asean; agricultural markets; agriculture; food security; world trade |
| JEL: | D58 F13 F15 F17 Q17 |
| Date: | 2012–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0368&r=sea |
| By: | Wagstaff, Adam; Manachotphong, Wanwiphang |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the possibility that universal health coverage may inadvertently result in distorted labor market choices, with workers preferring informal employment over formal employment, leading to negative effects on investment and growth, as well as reduced protection against non-health risks and the income risks associated with ill health. It explores this hypothesis in the context of the Thai universal coverage scheme, which was rolled out in four waves over a 12-month period starting in April 2001. It identifies the effects of universal coverage through the staggered rollout, and gains statistical power by using no less than 68 consecutive labor force surveys, each containing an average of 62,000 respondents. The analysis finds that universal coverage appears to have encouraged employment especially among married women, to have reduced formal-sector employment among married men but not among other groups, and to have increased informal-sector employment especially among married women. The largest positive informal-sector employment effects are found in the agricultural sector. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Markets,Population Policies,Labor Policies,Access to Finance |
| Date: | 2012–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6116&r=sea |
| By: | Bah, El-hadj M.; Cooper, Geoff |
| Abstract: | This paper uses survey data collected from Kalaymyo, a small urban city in North West Myanmar, to characterize firms and analyze the constraints limiting their growth. The level of firm ownership is very high but most firms are small, informal, operated out of the home, earning low income and with no employees. The most binding constraints are related to financing constraints, especially lack of access to informal credit. This is followed by the high degree of competition as the majority of firms are small retailers selling non-differentiated goods. This lack of credit combined with an apparent aversion to debt, limits the ability of entrepreneurs to take advantage of the high returns available on investment. We find that firms that made a capital investment over the last three years are significantly more profitable than those that did not. |
| Keywords: | rural investment climate; enterprize development; poverty reduction; Myanmar |
| JEL: | O53 O10 L20 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39819&r=sea |