The East Asian Crisis of 1997 and the following economic meltdown has raised new questions about the role of public policy in Asian economic growth and the best mix of policies to insure the survival of economic growth. Although economists agree that macroeconomic stability, the encouragement of exports and FDI inflows, and the development of human resources have been important in East Asian growth, they do not agree on whether industry specific policies have been useful. The policy experiences of the countries are diverse and do not show a strong relationship between policies and success. Bringing together the work of development economics experts, this book looks at the role of economic policy in East Asian development, the challenge of the economic meltdown, and the critical issues raised by that meltdown.

Based on research and conferences at the International Centre for the Study of East Asian Development in Kitakyushu, Japan, the book opens with general chapters considering the policies behind East Asian growth, then discusses the policies of each country in country specific chapters. Up to date in its discussion, the book considers the questions raised by the crisis of 1997 from a variety of perspectives.

By empirically assessing the competitiveness of 505 cities around the world from regional, national and other perspectives, this book not only ranks these cities but also presents a treasure trove of information with regard to each city's relative strengths and weaknesses. This unique resource draws on a wealth of data sources, all of which are described and assessed, and involve urban economics, geography, regional economics and many other fields. Using a concise indexing system, sophisticated methodology, and extensive figures and tables, it provides a comprehensive analysis of global urban competitiveness in 2015. Given the scope of its coverage, the book will be of great interest to readers such as local authorities, decision-makers and economic planners in cities throughout the world.

By examining the issues of environmental policy formation and implementation linked to economic development, and reviewing the Japanese experiences and the examples of other Asian countries, this book reveals factors of dynamism between environmental policy and social change in a domestic, regional and global context.

This is the first comprehensive study of the economics and politics of postsocialism in thirty transition economies of Europe and Asia, comparing initial conditions, shifting target models, paths to reform, and progress to date. It is written by the architect of Poland's successful economic reforms, who offers alternative policy proposals to the Washington Consensus based on his practical experience.

The countries of Latin America are plagued by poverty, high rates of population growth and unemployment, low growth in their gross national product, low rates of industrialization, high dependencee on agriculture, and uneven income distribution. Low income and growth reflect structural weaknesses which will prevent more rapid economic development if major changes are not made. The real problem for policy makers is how to combine overall economic growth with a more equitable distribution of income and assistance. This volume examines current issues and trends, methods, strategies, and policies for modernization in Latin America.

The volume focuses on the demand side phenomena of the soaring economic growth of the past few centuries. Growth theory has basically ignored the massive changes that occur here: the huge increase in the variety of products and services and the growing specialization in consumption behavior. The papers in the present volume argue, in contrast, that precisely these changes are crucial for understanding why ever more goods and services can be sold and, thus, economic growth can continue. The papers explore the historical and empirical developments in consumption and offer first theoretical orientations on this important, though neglected, topic.

The literature on innovation in Africa is rapidly expanding, and a recurring thread in the emergent literature is the pervasiveness of systemic weaknesses that inhibit the innovation process. Despite these, firms are able to innovate in Africa. It is then logical to ask: how do African firms manage to overcome the prevalent constraints and learn to innovate? This book directly tackles this question, with a view to improving our understanding of the innovation landscape in Africa. The book brings together some of the latest innovation research from across the African continent, ranging from Tanzania and Ethiopia in the east to Nigeria in the west. The chapters included in the collection adopt different but complementary theoretical and methodological approaches to address a rich mix of interrelated issues. These issues include the factors that enhance or inhibit innovation in African firms, the sources of (knowledge/information for) innovation, policy options for overcoming constraints and facilitating firm-level innovation, the nature and roles of brokers and intermediaries in dealing with innovation constraints and in facilitating the innovation process and the role of interactive learning and acquisition of embodied technology in the innovation process. This book was originally published as a special issue of Innovation and Development.

A topical study of regional arrangements covering ASEAN, SAARC and APEC in Asia, NAFTA and MERCOSUR in the Americas, SADC, SACU and ECOWAS in Africa, and the European Union, EFTA and Eastern Europe. The book argues that foreign direct investment is complementary to trade and most regional arrangements can create trade and induce growth so long as they remain open and non-discriminatory. But they could also become stumbling blocks to globalization. The book demonstrates how US and EU trade policy will be crucial in shaping the world economy.

'How to combine the community, the market, and the state in the total economic system is probably the most important agenda for economists geared towards the reduction of poverty in developing economies'. - Professor Yujiro Hayami This volume brings together leading scholars from all around the world to examine and extend Professor Hayami's development model of 'community, market and state', and to pay tribute to his invaluable contribution to economics. The authors provide new empirical analysis with a clear focus on the role of the community in economic development, and its relations with agricultural markets, industrialization and the government, using primary data from major countries in Asia and Africa. This book is indispensable reading for all interested in development economics, government and market studies and international development studies.

Destructive conflicts have thwarted growth and development in South Asia for more than half a century. This collection of multi-disciplinary essays examines the economic causes and consequences of military conflict in South Asia from a variety of perspectives embracing fiscal, social, strategic, environmental and several other dimensions.

This book is a compendium of case studies illustrating how economic tools and techniques can be used to address a wide range of problems in the management and conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems in a developing country context. The studies, which were conducted with support from the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), cover topics such as mobilizing conservation finance from beneficiaries of marine and coastal ecosystem services; quantifying ecosystem damage and its impact on dependents of ecosystem resources and services; determining the best package of policy reforms that put a price on pollution and regulate economic activities generating pollution with the goal of restoring coastal and marine resources; and analyzing community-based institutions that support sustainable management of fisheries and coastal resources. Studies in the book also provide general guidelines for conducting economic appraisals. It is essential reading for teachers, researchers, students and practitioners in fishery economics, economic development, ecosystem management, and other key issues facing policymakers in the Southeast Asian region.

The Northeast Asian security environment is closely linked to Korea's growth perspectives for the future. The spectacular rise of the South Korean economy in the past half century, also known as "Miracle on the Han River," has been duly highlighted as one of the most successful cases of economic development worldwide. However, among the factors curbing South Korea's growth perspectives has been, from the very beginning of its rise, the coexistence of the difficult neighbour to the North, Democratic People's Republic of Korea. While in the cold war this coexistence has been taken as inevitable, after the end of the cold war there were hopes to overcome this obstacle to further growth either through collapse or enhanced cooperation with the North, neither of which became reality. North Korea's unprecedented aggressiveness and development of long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear devices, made this threat truly an international question with multilateral talks coming into existence as ad-hoc measures to cope with the nuclear crisis. It was then that the idea of a Northeast Asian Security Community was born. The contributions in this book discuss how a peaceful solution of the security problems could not only enhance stability of Korea's economy and reduce the defense burden considerably (the so-called peace dividend), but would facilitate regional investments safer and regional solutions for common economic problems. When discussing the possibilities of a security framework or, in an institutionalized form, security community, in Northeast Asia, the authors in this volume are realistic as to not fall into the trap of wishful thinking, which so often has characterized approaches to North Korea resulting in disappointment. The past two years again saw the rising of tensions in Northeast Asia and the masterful way in which even an impoverished and isolated country can play its cards. While it seems a new ice age between the two Koreas is possible, nevertheless and maybe even more than ever the search for a stable security framework for Northeast Asia as a precondition for peaceful economic cooperation and development will go on. The chapters in this volume contribute to the ongoing debate to secure peace and development in Northeast Asia, making this book of interest to both academics and policy-makers alike.

The fourth volume in the "Handbook of Comparative Economic Policies," this book provides an overview of the development problems and experiences of developing countries. Rather than focusing on development economics per se, the volume discusses the problems faced by developing countries, the way they sought to overcome those problems, and their progress in overcoming the problems. Written by renowned international experts in development economics, the chapters provide the most comprehensive and current comparative studies available, making the handbook a useful tool for students of development economics, economists, and policy makers.

Tax Havens and Offshore Finance examines the subject of offshore finance centres.

Next time you go to a conference or hire a consultant to be told, ‘We live in a VUCA [Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous] world,’ leave the room.

You are wasting your time.

Fear of the future breeds inaction and leads to strategic paralysis. We put off decisions until we can have certainty. We look for signals. We wait. And while we do that, the world moves on around us. Problem-solvers thrive in chaotic and uncertain times because they act to change their future. Winners recognise that in a world of growing uncertainty, you need to resort to actions on things you can control. And the only things over which you have absolute control are your attitude and your mindset. These, in turn, determine the actions you will take and that will define your future.

A robust mindset is the one common characteristic Bruce Whitfield has identified in two decades of interrogating how South Africa’s billionaires and start-up mavericks think differently. They are not naive Pollyannas. They don’t ignore risk or hope that problems will go away. They constantly measure, manage, consider and weigh up opportunities in a tumultuous sea of uncertainty and find ways around obstacles. If, as Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller suggests, the stories we tell affect economic outcomes, then we need to tell different stories amidst the noise and haste of a rapidly evolving world.

The European Union (EU) was launched as a response to the economic dominance of the United States and - to a lesser degree - the Soviet Union. The nations of Western Europe were too small to compete against large scale and diversi?ed economies on their own. Six countries, eventually expanding to 27 (and counting), took a series of steps toward progressively deeper integration: the removal of int- nal tariffs, the construction of a common external tariff, the elimination of many (but not all) non-tariff barriers leading to a single market, and the adoption of a c- mon currency by 15 of the member states. The EU today equals and even exceeds the U. S. on many key indicators of performance. In the process, two similar but nonetheless divergent models of social and economic life stand in contrast with each other. The U. S. is more committed to capitalism and does little to dilute its harsh edges while the nations of Europe support wider social safety nets and more active regulation of commercial activity to mute the crueller aspects of the free-market. Until recently, the economic dynamism of the U. S. called into question whether the so-called European social model was sustainable in an era of globalization. The EU was slipping in competitiveness and was being challenged by new global pow- houses like China and India. Although the U. S. economy has slowed, there is little indication that European countries are capable of leveraging the situation to their advantage.

This edited volume presents lessons for development in the 21st century through an analysis of South Korea's development experience. The question of how the collaboration between state and society has contributed to capability enhancement is examined. The papers of the volume aim to understand the complementarity between economic and social policies. Looking beyond the conventional analytical scope of South Korean developmental state, they focus on the institutional mechanisms enabling the state and society to establish complementary policies, the actors involved and the consequences of the choices in the policy areas of aid, industrial, labour market, fiscal and monetary policies, social policy, rural development, environment, and gender to identify relevant lessons for developing countries in the 21st century.This volume considers the institutions and policies of South Korea between 1945 and 2000. Framing social policies as a set of policies to enhance individual and societal capability, this volume shows how a wide range of policies were formulated to complement each other in protective, reproductive, productive and redistributive spheres for economic and social development. In particular, it includes the periods of state-building prior to the rapid industrialisation of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and the responses to Asian Economic Crisis in the 1990s, which identified the institutional foundations and legacies for Korea's successful development.This book is indispensable reading for all interested in development economics, macroeconomics, institutional economics, political economy, migration studies, gender studies and international relations.

Social assessment for projects in China is an important emerging field. This collection of essays - from authors whose formative work has influenced the policies that shape practice in development-affected communities - locates recent Chinese experience of the development of social assessment practices (including in displacement and resettlement) in a historical and comparative perspective. Contributors - social scientists employed by international development banks, national government agencies, and sub-contracting groups - examine projects from a practitioner's perspective. Real-life experiences are presented as case-specific praxis, theoretically informed insight, and pragmatic lessons-learned, grounded in the history of this field of development practice. They reflect on work where economic determinism reigns supreme, yet project failure or success often hinges upon sociopolitical and cultural factors.

This resource book documents and analyzes current trends in the economic development of the South Asian countries of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, and evaluates the progress they have made in achieving sustained economic growth and improvement in the quality of life for present and future generations. Their current low growth rates condemn the majority of the population of these countries to unremitting misery and make efforts to redistribute income more difficult. Low savings and exports handicap efforts to accelerate economic growth and declining food production dooms increasing numbers to hunger and disease. This volume examines not only the poorer countries, but also the plight of the poor within developing countries.

This timely book points the way towards a new positive regulatory framework for international investment following the failure of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). It examines the flaws in free-market strategies underpinning the recent phase of globalization, in particular drawing out the lessons from the MAI, which was suspended in October 1998. The authors explore an alternative based on a positive regulatory framework for international business aimed at maximizing the positive contribution to development of foreign investment and minimizing its negative social and environmental impacts. The contributors include academics, researchers for non-governmental organizations, and business and trade-union representatives, writing from a combination of economic, legal and political perspectives. The book combines academic analysis with grass-roots and practical experience, and suggests concrete policy proposals.

Regional integration seems to be thriving, as the examples of the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN), the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), and the Southern Common Market well illustrate. More ambitious schemes, such as Asian Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), and those for Western hemispheric integration are also underway. How do these trends for integration relate to national development strategies? The contributors to this volume provide new insights into these developments as well as assessing the prospects for further integration.

Against the backdrop of significant developments in regional economic cooperation and integration over the past decade, this book presents some of the key challenges facing ASEAN as it embarks on a bold and ambitious project to establish an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. Organized under the auspices of the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Programs Regional Economic Policy Support Facility (AADCP-REPSF), the book brings together authoritative studies written by prominent experts and academics on issues pertaining to ASEAN economic integration.A CD-ROM containing the AADCP-REPSF Phase I Research Program comes free with the purchase of the printed copy of this book.