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on South East Asia |
| By: | Manaysay, Ferth Vandensteen |
| Abstract: | This article explores the policy narratives that shape the development and early implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations in the Philippines and Vietnam, with particular attention to their role in circular economy (CE) transitions for plastics. Using the Narrative Policy Framework, it examines how stakeholders articulate narratives of environmental protection, resource efficiency, economic competitiveness, and social inclusion. Based on interviews and documentary analysis, it finds that EPR is widely framed as a vehicle for CE principles, but narratives diverge in scope and emphasis across the two cases. These differences reflect variation in institutional capacity, stakeholder influence, and the role of informal actors. The findings point to the need for a more holistic and inclusive approach to EPR, grounded in proactive policymaking and stronger attention to social equity. The article contributes to debates on environmental governance in developing countries by showing how policy narratives shape the trajectories of CE transitions. |
| Keywords: | circular economy; extended producer responsibility; Narrative Policy Framework; Philippines; plastics; Vietnam |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2026–04–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:138039 |
| By: | Brehm, Margaret E.; Brehm, Paul A.; Cassidy, Alecia; Cassidy, Traviss |
| Abstract: | Using a natural experiment in Indonesia, we estimate the separate economic effects of natural resource booms and shared resource revenue. Contrary to Dutch disease concerns, oil and gas booms promote manufacturing growth, and shared revenue does not harm local manufacturing firms. Shared revenue significantly raises local non-oil GDP, but resource booms do not. Supply-side factors help explain the results: shared revenue increases local population and firm entry, while resource booms do not. Oil and gas booms thus benefit local economies largely through shared revenue. Where the revenue is spent matters more for local growth than where the resources are extracted. |
| Keywords: | Growth, resource booms, decentralization, manufacturing firms, Indonesia, Dutch disease |
| JEL: | H77 O13 O14 Q32 Q33 |
| Date: | 2024–07–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:128970 |
| By: | Febinia, Clarissa Asha (University of Cambridge); Kusuma, Pradiptajati; Luqman, Hirzi; Lewis, Joseph; Limardi, Prisca C.; Apriyana, Isabella; Priliani, Lidwina; , Kristiawan; Sudoyo, Herawati; Malik, Safarina G. |
| Abstract: | Market access is a key factor in structuring food procurement in rural communities. For groups undergoing subsistence transition, market interactions further transform lifestyle, with direct consequences for their diet and health. The Punan of Borneo and the Orang Rimba of Sumatra in Indonesia represent traditionally hunter-gatherer groups with recent transition histories. In this study, we use a cross-sectional comparative design across these communities (7 groups; 297 participants) to examine the effects of lifestyle transitions on diet and health at the intersection of market integration and subsistence shifts. In particular, we profiled dietary composition, procurement strategies, and the consumption of sugar, cigarettes, and medicine. We then employed linear mixed-effects models to evaluate associations between these variables, transition states, demographic factors, and Body Mass Index (BMI). Results indicate that market integration variably impacts subsistence practices; specifically, it circumvents the need for food cultivation in early-transition communities and substitutes for wild game in late-transition contexts. Both market access and subsistence transition drive dietary shifts along with increased BMI. The latter process affects women more severely than men. Sugar consumption is high across all communities (68.6 g/daily on average), while cigarettes are most consumed by men in early-transition communities (93%); both have significant health implications. Considering the communities, lifestyle transition appears mediated by the interaction of forest degradation, local infrastructure, isolation, government/NGO initiatives, and market access. In sum, subsistence transitions in Indonesia likely occur within the context of and are driven by market access, influencing dietary composition with sex-specific impacts on health. |
| Date: | 2026–05–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:qyn8w_v1 |
| By: | Uraku Yoshimoto (Faculty of International Social Sciences, Yokohama National University, Japan); Kiyotaka Sato (Faculty of International Social Sciences, Yokohama National University, Japan); Taiyo Yoshimi (Faculty of Economics, Chuo University, Japan); Takatoshi Ito (School of International Relations and Public Policy, Columbia); Junko Shimizu (Faculty of Economics, Gakushuin University, Japan); Yushi Yoshida (Faculty of Economics, Shiga University, Japan) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the determinants of invoice currency choice in Japanese export transactions to Thailand, utilizing granular data from Japan Customs. A key contribution of this study is its examination of how the ownership ratio (OSR) of Thai importers influences invoice currency choice in exports by Japanese complete car manufacturers and their subsidiaries. The empirical analysis reveals that a higher OSR of Thai importers is associated with a decreased likelihood of yen-denominated transactions. Furthermore, this study explores how invoice currency preferences diverge across different trade channels, including intra-firm trade. The findings reveal distinct patterns: parent companies predominantly prefer U.S. dollar-invoiced exports, whereas domestic subsidiaries—constrained by their limited capacity to manage exchange rate risks—exhibit a strong preference for yen-invoiced exports. These results underscore the significant differences in invoice currency strategies across trade channels. Notably, the analysis suggests that parent companies strategically select invoice currencies—whether yen or foreign currencies—as part of a broader effort to protect their foreign subsidiaries from exchange rate volatility, reflecting a deliberate approach to centralized risk management. |
| Keywords: | Ownership ratio, Invoice currency, Intra-firm trade, Overseas subsidiaries, Japan Customs transaction data |
| JEL: | F14 F23 F31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mof:wpaper:ron385 |
| By: | Bharti Nandwani (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research); Ishita Verma (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of India's landmark Forest Rights Act (FRA), which granted indigenous forest-dwelling communities legal rights to manage and protect forests, on the incidence of forest fires. Combining high-resolution satellite fire data with a village-level panel, we exploit pre-reform variation in forest cover in a difference-in-differences framework to identify the causal impact of the FRA on the occurrence and intensity of forest fires. We find that, following FRA, villages with greater forest cover experienced significant reductions in the likelihood and severity of fires. District-level data on the actual distribution of forest land titles corroborate these results. We further show that the decline in forest fires is accompanied by broader environmental improvements, including reductions in PM2.5 concentrations and burned area, highlighting the ecological gains from community-based forest governance. |
| Keywords: | Forest land rights, Property rights, Forest Fires, Environment, Common pool resources, Forest governance, Satellite data |
| JEL: | Q15 Q23 Q54 O13 H41 K11 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2026-006 |
| By: | N R Bhanumurthy (Director and Professor (Economics), Madras School of Economics); Bhabesh Hazarika (Economist, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi.); Aritri Chakravarty (Assistant Professor, Madras School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper relooks at the present Gender Budgeting framework in India. After two decades of implementing Gender Budgeting in India, this paper argues for relooking at the existing framework. With the help of an analytical framework the paper suggests that there is a need for Input-Output-Outcome framework that links fiscal outlays to gender gaps. It suggests that with the current framework strongly establishing institutional foundation through a well-defined Gender Budget Statement, Gender Budget Cells, and sustained political recognition of gender inequality as a fiscal and developmental concern, there is a need to make the whole gender budgeting process a dynamic one with feedback loop from gender gaps. The paper also provides empirical support with the help of a survey on Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Grameen (PMAY-G) beneficiaries and argues that the outcomes of the schemes that are included in the gender budgeting is at best an output from the gender inequality perspective. Further the paper argues that allocations under gender budget statement is at best a necessary but not a sufficient intervention to address gender gaps. There is a need for complimentary policy interventions to improve gender outcomes. Some of the complimentary policies that are suggested in this study, based on a primary survey, are providing skills, improving financial access as well as policies that improve mobility. At the end the paper suggests three pathways through which the whole gender budgeting framework could be made effective. |
| Keywords: | Gender Budgeting, Gender Gaps, PMAY-G, India |
| JEL: | H00 J16 H61 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2026-298 |
| By: | Barua, Srijon (Temple University) |
| Abstract: | Japan's grade separation policy structurally enables below-market community management of under-railway viaduct spaces, yet the social welfare potential of these infrastructural residual spaces remains systematically unrealized in most station areas. Under the 2007 Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism guidelines, railway operators bear a minority share of elevation costs and retain leasing rights over up to eighty-five percent of the resulting under-viaduct area. TauT Hankyu Rakusaiguchi in Kyoto represents one of the most fully documented instances. Since the 2015 Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement between Kyoto City and Hankyu Railway, the project has managed approximately 11, 200 square meters of under-viaduct space in a newly developing station area under a deliberate 0.5 percent internal rate of return framework. This paper asks what made this model work, and what parameters would allow comparable operators and municipal governments to replicate it. Drawing on stakeholder interviews, a multi-year event dataset of 508 events and 120, 754 participants, and accessibility gap analysis across three station areas, the study documents the conditions under which low-IRR management evolves into a self-sustaining infra-ecosystem: an adaptive alignment of product, promotion, and people enabled by catchment population density, co-promotion of social and economic activities, and facility provision targeting identified service gaps. To make this system legible to operators who lack Hankyu's institutional history, the paper introduces social IRR as a measurement framework that stacks monetized community benefits atop commercial cash flows. These findings offer a replicable governance template for under-viaduct activation where the institutional preconditions of public subsidy and multi-stakeholder coordination are present. |
| Date: | 2026–05–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:mvh3g_v1 |