Feature Archive 2008

Tsunami Response: Fours Years On

The December 2004 tsunami was one of the worst natural disasters in recent history, killing 230,000 people and displacing more than one million. This paper examines aspects of the rehabilitation and reconstruction program in the three worst hit countries—Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand—focusing on delivery and reconstruction policy following the disaster. Read the paper.

ASEAN Open Skies

Malaysia has invested heavily in airport infrastructure development, but it faces strong competition from other airport hubs in the region. This paper addresses the question of how "open skies" agreements in ASEAN will affect Malaysia's airport development strategy. Read the paper and post a comment..

Asia's Contribution to Global Development

Can Asia take a leading role in enhancing stability and growth across the global economy? ADBI's annual conference addressed three crucial issues of financial and food market stability; trade, investment and growth; and social and environmental sustainability. ADB President Kuroda gave the closing remarks.

Seamless Asia: Infrastructure for Sustainable and Integrated Development

Asia's need for infrastructure investment is huge. An ongoing project is examining challenges facing cross-border infrastructure development in Asia and outlines what needs to be done in terms of policies and best practices to meet these challenges. Read about the project.

• Read the summary and speeches from the book preparation workshop.

No Through Road: The Limitations of Food Miles

The "food miles" concept reflects the aim of minimizing the distance food has traveled before reaching the consumer. The authors argue that this concept is flawed because it ignores production costs, mode and scale of transport, and the importance of inputs such as capital and labor. Read the paper.

Journalism Winners 2008

Journalists from India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines took top honors in the 2008 Developing Asia Journalism Awards announced in Tokyo on 14 November. The event recognizes excellence in journalistic reporting by those covering development issues in the region. Meet the winners.

Asia-Europe Economic Relationships: Prospects and Challenges

How are Asian economies responding to the global financial crisis? The crisis is more severe than had been hoped and recent developments are raising concerns about the resilience of Asian financial and economic conditions, ADBI Dean Kawai said at the Asia-Europe Business Forum recently held in Beijing. Read his speech.

Regional Monetary Units for East Asia: Lessons from Europe

A recent paper reports on the European experience with a basket currency, the ECU, and how those lessons may apply to the creation of an East Asian regional currency unit. The authors examined the use of basket currencies as a financial instrument and described a plan for the development of a basket currency in Asia. Read the paper and post a comment.

Time Zones and Distance: Impact on FDI Flows

Can time zones and distance hinder foreign direct investment (FDI) flows? A new paper investigated sources and determinants of FDI flows to developing Asia using bilateral FDI flows for 1990–2005. The authors found that the elasticity of distance is greater for FDI from the non-Asia-Pacific OECD economies than for intraregional Asian flows. Read the paper and post a comment.

Developing Asia Journalism Awards

Twenty-five journalists from 13 developing countries in Asia have been selected as finalists for the 2008 Developing Asia Journalism Awards and Workshop to be held in Tokyo in November. Prizes will be awarded for excellence in journalistic reporting in four strategic areas of development – environment, governance, infrastructure, and regional integration. Read more.

Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation

ADBI's flagship study will examine key issues and challenges facing cross-border infrastructure development in Asia. The study attempts to outline what the region needs to address in terms of policies and best practices to meet these challenges. Examples of best practices will be drawn mainly from the transport and energy sectors. Read more.

Can Ethical Trade Help Reach the Millennium Development Goals?

Organic food and beverage have been some of the most rapidly growing sectors in international ethical trade, providing links between the global market and poor farmers in developing countries. A study assesses how organic certification and fair-trade certification can contribute to the achievement of the millennium development goal targets.

Download the paper and post a comment.

Emerging Asian Regionalism: A Partnership for Shared Prosperity

How can economic integration in Asia contribute to shared prosperity regionally and globally? The ADB study "Emerging Asian Regionalism: A Partnership for Shared Prosperity" analyzes the nature of Asia's emerging regionalism, and the opportunities and challenges it poses. The study was introduced to a Japanese and international audience at a recent conference in Tokyo. Read more.

• Read ADB President Kuroda's keynote address

Multilateralizing Asian Regionalism

Asia is experiencing rapid growth of the number of bilateral and regional trade agreements. Can this proliferation of smaller agreements eventually be consistent with multilateralization in the context of World Trade Organization negotiations? At the 18-19 September conference, experts will address this issue with implications for regional integration thinking, policy formulation, and multilateralization. Read more.

• Conference agenda

US Subprime Crisis: Risks for Asia

“The spread of the credit crisis from the US mortgage market, the hikes of oil, food, and other commodity prices, and the slowdown of the US and other industrialized economies have raised serious concerns on the economic outlook worldwide”, ADBI Dean Kawai said at a conference on 28 August. Read more.

• Subprime Mortgage Crisis conference
• Opening remarks by Duck-Koo Chung, Chairman, North East Asia Research Foundation

Infrastructure and Asia's Trade Costs

Infrastructure services play a major role in trade costs by reducing distribution margins, lowering prices, and raising consumer welfare. They also lower transaction costs, add value, and increase profitability for exporters while expanding linkages to global distribution networks. An ADBI study examines the role of hard and soft infrastructure in reducing Asia's trade costs and thereby influencing trade flows and patterns. Download the paper.

Microfinance in Pakistan

How does microfinance reduce poverty? A study assessed the impact of Pakistan’s leading microfinance bank on targets consistent with the millennium development goals. Using data from a survey of Khushhali Bank clients, the study found that the bank’s lending program contributed significantly to income generation activities such as agricultural production and, in particular, animal raising. Download the study.

Reducing Rural Poverty in the Philippines

The Philippines Agrarian Reform Community Project aims to reduce poverty through the provision of rural infrastructure and other support services. This study examines the impact of the project on rural households and evaluates how different population groups have benefited. Download the study.

See related studies.

Macroeconomic Policy and Poverty

Are economic growth and macroeconomic stability the answers to poverty reduction? This study explores the theoretical and empirical links between output, price, poverty line, and household incomes, and contrasts them with their combined effect on poverty. Download the study.

See more studies on poverty.

Terrorism's Impact on Growth

Terrorist attacks can affect a country's economic growth by increasing uncertainty which limits and diverts investments. Our latest paper quantifies the impact of terrorism and conflicts on income per capita growth for 1970–2004 in a sample of 42 Asian and Pacific countries. Read the paper and post a comment.

Labor Migration

Adverse impacts of labor migration include poor treatment of migrant workers, human trafficking, social and gender discrimination, and a brain drain in exporting countries. A recent workshop focused on issues of irregular migration, migrant health, and mechanisms for intergovernmental collaboration on migrant policies.

Read the papers and presentations.

Empowering Farmers to Move Toward Independence

Agriculture is the backbone of Cambodia's economy employing 70% of its labor force. Contract farming provides market access, infrastructure, and other benefits, but limits the flexibility of farming and marketing. Based on a survey of rice contract farming for export in Cambodia, this paper assesses the impact of contract farming on farmers' performance. Download the paper and post a comment.

Developing Asia Journalism Awards

Our program to recognize journalists covering development trends and the impact on countries and people in the region is now open. This year we focus on the four themes of governance, regional integration, infrastructure and environment. Journalists can submit entries using the online application system.

Read the news release.

Standards and Agricultural Trade in Asia

New food distribution channels, dominated by supermarkets, impose high performance demands on their value chains. In response to these demands, developing countries are shifting towards industrialized models of farming systems. A recent study examines challenges for small farmers and offers policy options on how they can compete with the big producers. Download the paper.

Managing Capital Flows in Asia: Policy Issues and Challenges

Capital inflows can pose serious policy challenges for macroeconomic management and financial sector supervision. A new paper for policymakers describes the patterns of capital flows in and their impact on emerging Asian economies and discusses measures to manage surges in capital inflows. Download the document.

Investing in Infrastructure: Public-private Partnerships

With growing fiscal constraints governments need to look to the private sector for investment in order to better meet the infrastructure challenges they face. An ADBI workshop discussed the challenges to achieving greater public-private partnerships for infrastructure development across Asia and the Pacific. Read the workshop summary and view the presentations.

Managing Non-Timber Forest Products: Bhutan

Products extracted from forests are an important source of cash income for many rural Bhutanese. A recent study documents a market-based organic certification scheme to improve the resource management and processing of lemongrass in poor households in Eastern Bhutan. Download the report.

Challenges for an Aging Asia

Population aging reduces labor supply and national savings, raises demand for health and medical services for the aged, and puts a strain on public finance. People in an aging society facing longevity risks will need a regular income in retirement. Financial markets must make structural changes since supply and demand for financial needs have changed. A recent conference focused on public finance issues for a rapidly aging Asia. Read the opening remarks.

Managing Capital Flows in Emerging Asia

How can emerging Asian economies handle large capital inflows? What regional initiatives can be introduced to utilize capital inflows while maintaining prudent macroeconomic stability? An ADBI project attempts to provide answers to these questions and aims to develop a policy framework for managing capital flows. Read about the project and download the papers.

The Philippines and Regional Development

What kinds of decentralization policies are best to promote regional development? How should countries in the Asia-Pacific region pursue their economic devolution programs? The Dynamics of Regional Development book examines aspects of regional dynamics and policies in the Philippines and extends the analysis to experiences in the People's Republic of China and Indonesia. Read more.

Training the Trainers: Microfinance Course

Providing access to microfinance gives poor and low income people a chance to improve their own lives. ADBI and Tokyo Development Learning Center is offering the 5th Microfinance Training of Trainers distance learning course to enhance the knowledge of microfinance practitioners and strengthen the capacity of microfinance institutions in Asia and the Pacific. Read more about the course and register online.

Managing Capital Flows Seminar

Capital inflows to Asia have been reduced recently due to the US subprime loan problem. Once US financial stability is restored and the credit crunch eases, capital inflows to Asia will likely resume in a big way, posing serious policy challenges. Results of an ADBI study on this topic were presented at a seminar at ADB's annual meeting on 3 May.

Organic Crops or Energy Crops?

Demand for safe food and the rising price of oil are causing poor farmers to switch to organic agriculture or biofuel crops. A new study in Cambodia and Lao PDR discusses these two farming activities, the economic benefit to the farmers, and the impact on health, poverty reduction, the environment and sustainable development. Download the report for free.

Macroeconomic Management Amid Ethnic Diversity

Given the multiracial nature of Malaysian society, macroeconomic policy has been about stabilizing the economy and addressing income disparities along racial lines to preserve social harmony. A recent paper discusses key lessons of achieving conflicting objectives of growth and equity in a small open economy. Download the paper and post a comment.

Harmonizing Rules of Origin

Where is a product made? Rules of origin (ROO) are complicated by globalization and the way a product can be processed in several countries before it is ready for the market. A recent workshop analyzed ROO components and explored ways to simplify and harmonize ROO for the existing as well as new regional trade agreements. Read the workshop opening remarks.

Managing Capital Flows: The Case of Malaysia

How can governments deal with increasingly volatile capital flows? Strong economic fundamentals and a global search for yields will continue to shift more capital into Asia. Our recent research reviews policies taken to address capital flows in Malaysia from 1999 to 2007 and offers recommendations for managing capital flows. Download the study.

Integrated Water Resources

Integrated water resources management is key for the equitable and sustainable use of water resources. But it needs partnerships for actions. ADB and the Japan Water Agency partner with the Network of Asian River Basin Organizations(NARBO) to share knowledge and build capacity in the region. Read about NARBO and view the materials from their recent meeting.

Partnership in Poverty Reduction: Contract Farming

In emerging economies in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region close to 90% of the poor are smallholders who depend on agriculture for their livelihood. A recent ADBI study examines contract farming in Lao PDR and Cambodia and points to farming of organic crops as a promising option for poor farmers as the practice is consistent with traditional practices and has lower health and environmental risks. Read the study.

Managing Capital Flows: The Philippines

What factors determine capital flows? Currencies in the region are reacting to the weakness of the US dollar, and global uncertainties have contributed to weak investment which is another reason behind the current account surplus of several economies including the Philippines. This study analyzes the impact of foreign exchange inflows and the policy responses in the Philippines. Download the study and post a comment.

Moving from Subsistence to Commercial Agriculture

Contract farming is emerging as a tool to facilitate market linkages and provide support for small farms to switch to commercial production. Using data from household surveys in Lao PDR, this study assesses the potential of contract farming as a development tool to increase small farm incomes and reduce rural poverty. Download the study and post a comment.

Managing Capital Flows: The Case of Korea

The Republic of Korea has recently experienced huge capital flows, with gross flows increasing almost 38 times between 1980 and 2006. In this new paper, part of the “Managing Capital Flows: Search for a Model” project, the authors investigate the effects of capital inflows on the Korean economy, paying particular attention to asset prices. Download the paper.

Optimizing ICT for Education: What Works, What Doesn't and In What Circumstances

A recent ADBI/ADB HQ workshop raised awareness of the importance of ICT skills for national development. Experts discussed the need to integrate and take advantage of the benefits of ICT for education quality and delivery to ensure better access to education for all. Read the workshop summary and download the papers.

Evolving Regional Financial Architecture

The financial crisis and contagion revealed how closely financial systems and economic conditions were inter-connected across East Asia. A new policy brief explores the progress of recent financial cooperation initiatives in the region, new opportunities provided, and possible evolution of a new regional financial architecture. Download the paper and post a comment.

Challenges for Asia

Haruhiko Kuroda, ADB President gave his perspectives on Asia's strengths and vulnerabilities in light of current global economic realities, discussed the progress of Asian regional cooperation and integration, and shared his thoughts on the challenges of environmental sustainability and climate change at the "Challenges for the Asian Economy in 2008 and Beyond" symposium. Read the speech.

Challenges for the Asian Economy in 2008 and Beyond

Haruhiko Kuroda, ADB President will deliver a speech on emerging opportunities and challenges for the Asian economy, sources of new growth, the engine of growth in Asia and the effect of Asia's emerging powerhouses—the PRC and India. In particular, he will focus on climate change and environmental issues. Register now.

Cross-border Infrastructure

Better inter-connectivity of regional infrastructure has led to greater intra-regional trade in goods and services as well as promoting community building within the region. Participants at a recent workshop learnt about the costs and benefits of cross-border infrastructure projects, their impacts, and best practices in managing the infrastructure networks. Read the summary and download the papers and presentations.

An East Asian Economic Community?

Are deeper integration in trade, investment and finance, and the further institutionalization of that integration mutually reinforcing? How can East Asia use its regional integration as an engine of deeper global integration? A recent ADBI paper addresses these questions and suggests policy directions for greater regional economic cooperation. Read the paper and post a comment.

100 Tips 100 Tools for Better Governed NGOs

Our latest publication is a quick reference of ten sets of tips and online tools on common topics related to international and domestic laws and governance principles affecting the civil society sector. Download the book for free and post a comment.