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on South East Asia |
| By: | Wilp, Susanne Bleier |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a theoretical synthesis of sex work and anti-trafficking power in Southeast Asia and argues that the region reveals US extraterritorial power in its fourth and most contradictory mode. Where a companion paper on the Global North found that power exercised through platform law (FOSTA-SESTA), a paper on the Global South through the PEPFAR antiprostitution pledge, and a paper on Eastern Europe through the abrupt withdrawal of funding, Southeast Asia shows it as evaluative power: the US State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report ranks governments by tier and can trigger sanctions, rewarding the criminalisation, raids and rescue operations that Bernstein (2018) has theorised as carceral feminism and militarised humanitarianism. The paradox is that the same US power that financed harm reduction through PEPFAR simultaneously incentivises criminalisation through the TIP Report - while the strongest available evidence, a quasi-experimental study from East Java (Cameron, Seager and Shah 2021), shows that criminalisation increases sexually transmitted infections among sex workers by 58 percent. Drawing on this evidence, on Weitzer's (2023) ethnography of the Thai sex industry, and on Parmanand's (2019) study of the Philippine Sex Workers Collective, the paper makes three claims. First, the anti-trafficking architecture functions as a machine that produces the victims it claims to rescue, extending Agustin's (2007) concept of the rescue industry into its operating logic. Second, this machine structurally suffocates the self-organisation that could carry reform, because criminalisation prevents legal registration and funding. Third, Thailand's ongoing effort to repeal its 1996 Prostitution Act is the Southeast Asian counterpart to the Belgian and South African experiments, in which the sex worker organisation Empower explicitly demands decriminalisation rather than regulated legalisation. The evidence base is uneven: Thailand and the Philippines carry the analysis, while Vietnam appears only as an evidencebased contextual case. |
| Date: | 2026–06–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:24pr9_v1 |
| By: | Keita OIKAWA; Fusanori IWASAKI; Yasushi UEKI |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the determinants and consequences of digitalization among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asia. Using firm-level survey data from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Viet Nam covering 23 digital tools, we distinguish between digital adoption breadth (extensive margin) and depth (intensive margin). Drawing on technology diffusion theory, both margins are positively associated with managerial human capital and global value chain participation, while external support is more strongly associated with adoption depth. During COVID-19, firms with higher digitalization were more likely to maintain pre-crisis sales, with stronger associations for depth than breadth. These findings suggest that economic benefits depend less on the range of tools adopted than on their effective integration into operations. Policies targeting the MSME digital divide may therefore be more effective when focused on strengthening digital use capabilities rather than expanding adoption alone. |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:26058 |
| By: | Naomi Ashley Amparo; John Frederick Muji; Paul James Montecillo; Jaymar Soriano; Vena Pearl Bongolan |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted socio-economic and healthcare systems in the Philippines, significantly affecting barangays. This study analyzes the cascading effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on key aspects of a barangay, namely mobility, accessibility of public services, economic and financial health, food security, educational engagement, and physical health. It focuses on data from 2, 122 Filipino households collected during May to June 2021 as part of the World Bank COVID-19 Households Survey. A Bayesian network model was constructed to programmatically map the conditional dependencies among these variables, utilizing Python libraries. Survey responses were grouped into common variables based on shared characteristics and standardized through z-score normalization to serve as nodes in the Bayesian network. By extending the Bayesian network into an influence diagram, the results will help identify interventions to guide local government units (LGUs) and policymakers in crafting tailored recovery programs and strategies that address impacts on physical health, economic and financial health, food security, public service access, mobility, and educational engagement. These efforts ultimately aim to enhance barangay resilience and preparedness for future public health crises. The results indicate that interventions aimed at boosting food production, stabilizing market prices, and expanding income opportunities are the most effective in improving community outcomes. This highlights the vital role of targeted economic and food security measures in mitigating the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and offers valuable insights for shaping future response and recovery efforts. |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2607.07768 |
| By: | Huynh, Quynh; Ku, Hyejin |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between economic development and female labor force participation, with a focus on the impact of gender norms. Analyzing quasi-random variation in provincial exports in reunified Vietnam from 2002 to 2018, we find that a positive economic shock led to a significant decline in women’s labor market engagement, particularly among married women from wealthier households and those with husbands in more skilled occupations. This trend is more pronounced in the South (formerly capitalist) than in the North (always socialist), and among native Southerners compared to Northerners relocated to the South after the war. Our findings highlight the importance of gender role attitudes in shaping women’s responses to rising incomes. |
| JEL: | J16 J22 O12 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20251 |
| By: | de Pleijt, Alexandra; Frankema, Ewout |
| Abstract: | Since 1970, Southeast Asia’s per capita GDP grew seven-fold and headcount poverty rates declined from ca. 70 to 5%. This paper explores the 20th century schooling revolution as one of the deeper roots of this major leap in human prosperity. Using micro-data on the educational attainment and migration status of ca. 123 million individuals, subdivided across 277 provinces in eight Southeast Asian countries, we establish a strong and significant relationship between early educational attainment and sub-national economic development at the start of the 21st century. Using a wide range of historical and geographic controls, we find that higher education shares are more strongly associated with regional development outcomes than mass education. We also find a strong and robust contribution of inter-regional and international migration to human capital accumulation and long-term development. |
| JEL: | J24 O10 O40 O53 N00 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20079 |
| By: | Brian McCaig; Margaret S. McMillan; Marina Mavungu Ngoma; Anh T. Pham |
| Abstract: | Industrial zones are a widely used industrial policy tool, yet their effects vary enormously. Matching the timing and location of zone establishment to firm-level data in Vietnam, we estimate that a new zone raises formal employment by 2, 000 workers within seven years. This average masks extreme skewness: a handful of zones generate the gains while the rest produce almost none. Zones near major trade hubs account for most of the effect, driven by export-oriented foreign manufacturers. Accounting for spillovers, domestic firms face agglomeration shadows nearby but gain farther out, while foreign manufacturers operate as enclaves, generating few local linkages. |
| JEL: | L52 O25 O53 R11 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35446 |
| By: | Rashidghalam, Masoomeh; Heshmati-Kim, Jieun; Heshmati, Almas |
| Abstract: | AI is becoming a driving force in Vietnam's economic transformation. The country is moving beyond a growth model based on low-cost labour and export-led industries. Adoptions of the widespread generative AI and AI-powered assistants have accelerated the transformation. AI by reshaping the nature and future of work, it redefines the rules and productivity. This research overviews the recent research investigating how AI is transforming work, demand for digital skills, and productivity gains in AI-adopting Vietnamese industries. Optimal blend of AI and human collaboration influence positively its productivity impacts. Application of AI enable use of its potentials, but it has also significance challenges and risks of skill gaps, training costs, trust, job quality and distribution of its effects. Focus on adaptability, lifelong learning, and integration of AI ensures a positive future of work. This study identifies factors determining adoption of AI and heterogeneity in its productivity and future of work impacts. |
| Keywords: | AI application, Nature of work, Future of work, Economic transformation, Skill requirements, AI productivity impacts, Vietnam |
| JEL: | D24 E24 F63 J24 L52 O33 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1796 |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | This paper applies the Collective Intelligence Model for Education (CIME) to Thailand’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 mathematics data and assessment materials to generate fine-grained diagnostic evidence for curriculum review and instructional support. The study combines AI-assisted scoring, expert review and psychometric scaling, using bilingual item-facet rubrics, with Thai serving as the operational scoring language. The resulting profiles examine student performance across 12 content topics and 17 cognitive operators. Findings indicate relative strengths in geometry-related content, measurement, estimation, chance and probability, and selected procedural tasks. More demanding areas include formulating situations mathematically, interpreting results in context, recognising functional relationships, and working with algebraic, functional and data-representation content. The analysis also identifies limited gender differences in most areas, alongside substantial variation by economic, social and cultural status. Overall, the paper shows how large-scale assessment data can be translated into competency-oriented evidence for Thailand’s ongoing education reform |
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence, Educational Assessment, Mathematics Education, PISA, Psychometrics, Thailand |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2026–07–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:348-en |
| By: | Galvin Kuan Sian Lee (UM - University of Malaya = Universiti Malaya [Kuala Lumpur, Malaisie], Taylor’s University) |
| Abstract: | Online shopping is increasingly taking over the global retail space, including Malaysia. With the projections of growth for online shopping, it is vital that managers identify the main factors behind the purchase intention of consumers. This study seeks to identify the significant factors that contribute to the purchase intention of Generation Z consumers in Malaysia when shopping online. A quantitative approach via survey questionnaire is deployed for this study. The factors of Perceived Site Quality, Trust, Product Information Quality and Perceived Risk are examined through a study on 200 Generation Z consumers in Malaysia. The findings indicated that Product Information Quality is the most significant factor which contributes to purchase intention. Contrary to previous studies, the findings of this study also provided valuable insight to the Generation Z's perception towards Perceived Site Quality, Trust and Perceived Risk. Managerial implications on improving Product Information Quality are discussed. The study also provided insight into demographic differences such as gender and highest education level towards online shopping behaviour. |
| Keywords: | product information quality, perceived risk, trust, perceived site quality, consumer behaviour, purchase intention, online shopping |
| Date: | 2025–06–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05609044 |
| By: | Yuji HONJO; Yuya IKEDA |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of founder-chief executive officer (CEO) presence on post-initial public offering (IPO) outcomes using a sample of IPOs listed on junior stock markets in Japan. We decompose this relationship into two effects: the founder-CEO tenure effect, capturing leadership continuity after an IPO, and the founder-CEO imprinting effect, reflecting founder-CEO contributions prior to an IPO. Our results reveal that founder-CEO-led firms do not exhibit statistically significant improvements in post-IPO financial performance, measured by Tobin’s q and return on assets (ROA), but the founder-CEO tenure effect is positive and statistically significant for employment and sales growth. These findings suggest that founder-CEOs tend to pursue growth-oriented strategies after an IPO. In contrast, the founder-CEO imprinting effect has no statistically significant impact on either financial performance or firm growth. Distinguishing between tenure and imprinting effects provides a better understanding of how founder-CEO presence shapes post-IPO outcomes. |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:26056 |
| By: | Kaur, Sarvnipun; Arora, Anshika; Singh, Prakarsh |
| Abstract: | Night-shift bans prevent women from working nights on equal terms with men. Though most countries repealed such bans, India retains gender-based restrictions. After 2017, several states permitted women in service-establishments to work nightshifts under administrative requirements. Exploiting this staggered rollout, we find reforms reshaped female employment composition without affecting its level. Women in treated-states were 10.1% more likely to be employed in services and 5.3% less likely in non-services. This effect is stronger in safer districts, robust to placebos and contemporaneous manufacturing reforms. Lifting this constraint may expand employment, but administrative-costs can offset these gains. We find the former dominates. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Labor law, Sectoral employment |
| JEL: | J16 J21 J78 K31 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1791 |
| By: | Woo-Kyoung Song (Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade); Sung-min Cho (Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade) |
| Abstract: | Five years have passed since the South Korean government designated several regions as “depopulation regions and at-risk areas” and began implementing policies to combat what it refers to as “local extinction” in earnest. Later this year, the government is required by statute to re-identify and designate depopulation regions once more, and so attention has turned to the institutional reforms needed to make anti-extinction policies more effective.<p> The government has moved quickly to build the legal scaffolding needed to buttress its policy apparatus: it formally designated several areas as depopulation regions and the National Assembly passed the Special Act on Support for Depopulation Regions, established a KRW 10 trillion Local Extinction Response Fund, and also formulated a basic plan that lays out its approach to addressing the country’s population crisis.<p> Building on the central government’s framework, local governments have autonomously made creative efforts to fight population decline that are beginning to bear fruit. Yet despite some small victories, many challenges remain: the various related plans require closer linkages; deeper coordination between central and local government; project planning that focuses on where people actually live; increased participation by outside organizations; more “software” (i.e., local community programs and services) projects that enhance residential quality-of-life, and incentives for areas to “graduate” from the program.<p> This study finds that since policy took effect, regions suffering from population decline have posted gains in population growth, employment, and youth employment. They are also more financially independent and autonomous. In designated areas, population size and the population growth rate correlate strongly with the employment rate, the youth employment rate, the number of workers, and the number of manufacturing and service establishments. Projects that upgrade and diversify regional industrial structures tend to improve population trends, and therefore warrant more active planning and implementation efforts. |
| Keywords: | balanced regional development; depopulation; Special Act on Support for Depopulation Regions; Local Extinction Response Fund; in-country migration; regional migration; local extinction; population los |
| JEL: | R58 R23 R11 J11 |
| Date: | 2026–06–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:kietrp:023248 |
| By: | Ziang Qiu (Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau); Baibing Huang (School of Liberal Arts, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao SAR, China); Yang Zhang (Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau; Asia-Pacific Academy of Economics and Management, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China) |
| Abstract: | The development of the digital economy has the potential to impact resource allocation efficiency within a region. This study examines the direct and spatial effects of digital economy development on the location choice of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Chinese cities. The findings indicate that digital economy development not only enhances the inflow of foreign direct investment within a region but also influences FDI inflows in neighboring regions, with spillover effects diminishing as geographical distance increases. To address endogeneity concerns, staggered Difference-inDifferences (DID) and spatial DID models are introduced in an event study to validate our main findings. Moreover, regional heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact of digital economy development on FDI location decisions is particularly significant in eastern and coastal cities. The results offer an empirical foundation for emerging market countries, such as China, to advance sustainable digital economy development, enhance resource allocation efficiency, and support foreign investors in making informed investment location decisions. |
| Keywords: | Digital Economy; FDI Location; Spatial Effect; Spillovers; Emerging Markets |
| JEL: | F23 O33 R12 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boa:wpaper:202642 |
| By: | Ahmed, Akhter; Anowar, Md Sadat |
| Abstract: | Bangladesh has made considerable progress in reducing poverty, with social protection programs playing an important role in protecting poor and vulnerable households from economic shocks and promoting human development. Despite these achievements, the system faces persistent challenges, including fragmented programs, weak coordination, targeting errors, and inefficient allocation of public resources. A substantial share of social protection spending is directed toward programs that do not primarily benefit the poor, while many vulnerable households remain inadequately covered. Addressing these shortcomings has become increasingly important as Bangladesh confronts rising food prices, slower economic growth, and climate-related risks. This policy note presents a roadmap for building a more efficient, equitable, and adaptive social protection system. It recommends scaling up successful programs while phasing out inefficient ones. By improving targeting and reducing benefit leakage, social protection coverage for poor households can be significantly expanded even within the current budget. This policy note presents a roadmap for building a more efficient, equitable, and adaptive social protection system. It recommends scaling up successful programs while phasing out inefficient ones. By improving targeting and reducing benefit leakage, social protection coverage for poor households can be significantly expanded even within the current budget. |
| Keywords: | social protection; modernization; policies; public expenditure; targeting; Bangladesh; Asia; Southern Asia |
| Date: | 2026–07–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:polbrf:183784 |
| By: | Pan, Cong; Yuan, Shuang; Wu, Yongyang; Zhao, Qiran |
| Abstract: | Population aging is transforming rural households across developing countries, yet limited evidence exists on how it reshapes consumption across the distribution. This study examines the association between household aging and per capita consumption in rural China using 350, 351 household-year observations from the Fixed Observation Rural Survey for 2003–2022. We measure household aging as the share of members aged 60 or above within the realized household consumption unit, capturing demographic change as it is experienced in rural households shaped by migration and co-residence. Empirically, we combine household fixed-effects models with unconditional quantile regressions to estimate both average and distributional associations. We find that household aging is associated with lower per capita consumption and that the negative association becomes substantially stronger toward the upper tail of the distribution, indicating compression from above rather than improvement at the bottom. Category-specific results show that contraction is concentrated in discretionary and relatively income-elastic spending, whereas health expenditure is comparatively rigid and may increase with aging. Additional analyses suggest that this pattern is consistent with declines in income capacity, asset-based wealth and informal support. Larger households and households with more farmland exhibit weaker agingrelated consumption losses. The findings show that population aging is reshaping not only average demand but also the composition and distribution of rural consumption under incomplete welfare provision, and they highlight the importance of household structure and rural resource buffers in shaping how aging is lived and managed in the countryside. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea26:404605 |
| By: | Tan, Zhaofeng; Zhu, Xinlei; Huang, Teng; Liu, Tianjun |
| Abstract: | Existing research on how environmental policy affects firm dynamics has focused mainly on highly polluting firms. By contrast, there is still limited evidence on how such policies shape the entry and exit of green agribusiness. This paper studies a Chinese agricultural environmental policy that combines regulation with incentives and was gradually introduced at the county level from 2017 onward. We treat this rollout as a quasi-natural experiment. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we identify the causal effects of agricultural environmental policy on the dynamics of green agriculture-related firms. We find that the policy increased entry by about 10.67 percent and exit by about 9.84 percent among green agriculture-related firms. The evidence points to market selection as the main mechanism. The policy increased market demand for green agriculture from both consumers and agricultural producers. It also raised the revenues and profits of incumbent green agriculture-related firms. In addition, the policy reduced informal costs, especially financing frictions, but did not significantly relax formal institutional barriers. Lower entry costs and stronger market expectations increased the expected returns to entry and encouraged green agribusiness to enter. At the same time, intensified competition pushed less efficient firms out of the market. This pattern is especially pronounced among smaller firms, firms with narrower business scopes, less diversified firms, and firms with weaker profitability. The policy also generated both environmental and economic gains. It reduced methane emissions by about 1.06 percent and nitrous oxide emissions by about 1.68 percent. It also increased nighttime light intensity by about 3.57 percent. Overall, this paper provides new micro-level evidence on how environmental policy shapes green agribusines dynamics. It also offers evidence from China that may inform green structural transformation in agriculture in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea26:404468 |
| By: | Da, Yabin; Chen, Yuanyuan; Qiu, Huanguang |
| Abstract: | China generates more than 3.8 billion tons of livestock and poultry manure annually, making manure one of the most important sources of agricultural nonpoint-source pollution. Since 2017, China has implemented a county-wide manure resource utilization pilot program, supported by substantial central fiscal transfers, to promote crop-livestock recycling, manure treatment facilities, and water-quality improvement. Yet water quality has not improved uniformly in key river basins, and several indicators have increased rather than declined. This paper treats the county-wide manure utilization pilot in Sichuan Province as a quasi-natural experiment and combines county-level panel data on lake and reservoir water quality from 2014 to 2023 with staggered difference-in-differences estimators. To separate local treatment effects from basin-level spillovers, we construct directed hydrological spatial weights from high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) analysis of upstream-downstream runoff relationships. The results show strong indicator-specific heterogeneity. The policy significantly reduces total phosphorus (TP) and the permanganate index (PI), but increases total nitrogen (TN) and conductivity (Cond) in both lakes and reservoirs. Mechanism tests suggest that treatment facilities generate abatement benefits, while pilot counties also experience a substantial expansion in livestock scale, offsetting part of the environmental gains through additional nitrogen and dissolved-ion loads. Heterogeneity tests show larger nitrogen and ion-migration risks in areas with weaker cultivated-land carrying capacity, stronger precipitation-driven runoff, and better irrigation conditions. DEM-based spillover estimates further show that upstream pilots improve downstream composite water quality while increasing downstream TN, turbidity, and conductivity, consistent with selective abatement and pollution shifting. The paper contributes a hydrologically directed policy-evaluation framework for agricultural environmental regulation and provides evidence for basin-scale coordination in manure management. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea26:404484 |
| By: | Bhattarai, Santosh; Schwab, Benjamin |
| Abstract: | As the elderly population in developing nations across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa continues to grow, many countries have expanded or considered expanding non-contributory pension programs. Beyond their impact on direct beneficiaries, increased transfers to the elderly may also affect younger generations with direct ties to recipients. How might such transfers impact the nutritional outcomes of grandchildren living in the same household as recipients? We examine this question using Nepal’s old age allowance (OAA) program. Nepal’s 2008 OAA expansion lowered the eligibility threshold from age 75 to 70 for general population and to age 60 for Dalit households nationwide and five districts of Karnali province. We estimate the causal effect of pension expansion on child anthropometric outcomes using the Flexible DiD estimator across five rounds of Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, 2022). We find no evidence that the pension expansion did improved child anthropometry. In contrast, estimated average treatment effects on the treated are consistently negative. Event-study estimates reveal an immediate negative, though imprecisely estimated, shift in child height and weight at the first post treatment survey round. The pension expansion causes a statistically significant increase in household size, which may have diluted per child resource availability. We find a significant reduction in the probability of child consuming fruits and vegetables in the treated households, while animal source nutrients intake show no significant response. Placebo tests using time invariant household assets indicates these results cannot be explained solely by differential sample selection. We also find no evidence that maternal health, fertility behavior, and female labor supply drive the child nutrition result. In contrast to previous studies, we find no support for the hypothesis that expanded elderly pensions benefit co-residing children. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea26:404657 |