Asia's Developing Future

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation member countries, also known as the CAREC region, extends from Azerbaijan to the People’s Republic of China, and includes some of the world’s most important producers of energy and natural resources, and emerging trade routes. So how seriously has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the region’s economies and what does the future hold in store? In this pod...

Public procurement is commonly used by governments in developed countries to promote innovation and socioeconomic policy objectives. However, the strategic use of public procurement as a public policy instrument for innovation is still uncommon in Asia. In this podcast, ADBI’s senior CBT economist Yongwook Lee and research associate Lingfeng Zheng discuss the dynamics between public procurement an...

Digital transformation is raising the productive capacities of economies in Asia by enhancing trade, financial inclusion, and firm competitiveness, but could it provide an even greater competitive advantage? According to ADBI Research Fellow John Beirne, the answer is yes! In this podcast, Beirne explains how improvements in infrastructure, digital literacy, and regulation can maximize digitalizat...

Economies across Asia and globally are facing the risk of spiraling debt and inflation triggered by emergency responses to the COVID-19 crisis. In this podcast, Indonesia Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati discusses how these challenges could impact economic recovery and strategies for addressing them, including the role of international cooperation. The discussion draws upon her ADBI Featured...

The COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow sought to rally global efforts to reduce carbon emissions needed to fight climate change and has prompted countries to commit to more ambitious climate actions. However, implementation challenges remain, particularly in fast-growing, highly-climate vulnerable developing countries in Asia and the Pacific. In this podcast, ADBI’s Dina Azhgaliyeva and Fr...

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the world’s cities. It has also prompted rethinking about the role of cities and the future of urbanization. In this podcast, urban development expert Tsuyoshi Hashimoto discusses the post-pandemic outlook for Asia’s cities and the implications for sustainable and inclusive growth in the region. His remarks are based on research presented during a rece...

Spanning from the People’s Republic of China through Central Asian countries along the Caspian Sea to Europe, the Trans-Caspian Corridor is an increasingly important channel for transportation and cross-border trade. In this podcast, ADBI’s Dina Azhgaliyeva, Yelena Kalyuzhnova of the University of Reading, and Richard Pomfret of the University of Adelaide describe how improved infrastructure devel...

How has the COVID-19 crisis impacted the Asian economy and what can the region’s policy makers do to advance economic recovery? In this podcast, ADBI Research Fellow John Beirne addresses these fundamental questions, describing new research that underscores the importance of building longer-term resilience and sustainability in Asia and possible ways forward. The discussion draws upon his new coed...

Like other emerging markets in Asia, Central Asia faces a significant need for infrastructure development to support onward growth but a comparable shortfall in project financing and implementation capacity. In this podcast, ADBI’s Dina Azhgaliyeva and Ranjeeta Mishra, and the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Institute’s Kamalbek Karymshakov explain the importance of bridging the...

Harmonizing intellectual property regimes could boost innovation in Asia, but how feasible is it? What steps could Asia take to enhance intellectual property protection and what impact could it have on the future of innovation development in the region? In this podcast, the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Peter Fowler explains the link between intellectual property rights and growth, t...

COVID-19 recovery in developing Asia could follow a traditional growth path that relies on carbon- and resource-intensive production. By contrast, the transition to a circular economy could deliver greener and more enduring post-pandemic growth in the region. In this podcast, ADBI’s Linda Arthur and Derek Hondo, describe the prospects for achieving such a breakthrough and associated principles and...

The burden of water collection and distribution often disproportionately falls on the shoulders of women in Asia’s developing economies, where gaps in water infrastructure and hygiene persist and are particularly acute at a household level. In this podcast, Ashish Sedai of Colorado State University describes clean water access challenges in the region, how the adoption of piped water in households...

Developing Asia will require around $30 trillion in infrastructure investment through 2030, according to the Asian Development Bank. But how has COVID-19 affected the infrastructure landscape and what role can the sector play in pandemic recovery across the region? In this podcast, New Zealand Infrastructure Commission Board Chair Alan Bollard describes post-pandemic infrastructure development con...

With COVID-19 lockdowns, quarantine requirements, and work from home arrangements still prevalent, how will the pandemic impact the future of public transport and what lessons can policy makers in Asia learn from global experiences within the sector? In this podcast, we take a look at what’s happening outside the region with Greg Marsden of the University of Leeds Institute of Transport Studies, w...

Central Asia remains highly dependent on polluting solid fuels despite significantly increasing access to cleaner alternatives in the region. In this podcast, ADBI’s Dina Azhgaliyeva and Ranjeeta Mishra, and CAREC Institute’s Kamalbek Karymshakov explain the implications of this gap, and what policy makers can do about it moving forward. The discussion draws upon their recent article in the Journa...

Economic and social disruptions accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic have sharply affected labor migration in Asia. In this podcast, ADBI Capacity Building and Training Economist Pitchaya Sirivunnabood describes the pandemic’s implications for labor mobility as well as the role of digitalization in boosting labor migration management moving forward. The discussion draws upon Labor Migration in Asi...

In this podcast, Asian Development Bank Institute Dean Tetsushi Sonobe explains how global efforts to advance quality infrastructure development could enable a more sustainable and inclusive COVID-19 recovery. He stresses the importance of promoting infrastructure that recouples economic, social, and environmental prosperity, with attention to building support for projects among the general public...

In this podcast, Benjamin Diokno, Governor of Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas, or BSP, discusses financial digitalization and inclusive COVID-19 recovery strategy with ADBI Dean Tetsushi Sonobe. Governor Diokno describes the Philippine central bank’s roadmap for overcoming pandemic shocks and building a stronger, more technologically advanced, and more inclusive economy. Read the transcript https://bit...

The increased use of financial technology, or fintech, during the COVID-19 pandemic has provided households in Asia and the Pacific with more efficient and shock-resilient financial services access, and also helped the region’s micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises remain economically viable by offering faster and cheaper financial services than traditional banking. However, economies and com...

In this podcast, the University of Chicago’s Anjali Adukia presents her research on the link between school sanitation infrastructure, education growth, and development in India. Adukia describes the importance of latrine construction in schools for driving primary school enrollment, particularly among girls. She also discusses the policy implications of these dynamics for education and sanitation...

Greater infrastructure development could give remote, landlocked Central Asian economies a critical boost by enhancing pandemic recovery, poverty eradication, and climate change mitigation. However, growing constraints on the use of public funds will require new financing sources to tackle the region’s substantial infrastructure investment gap. In this podcast, ADBI research fellow Dina Azhgaliyev...

Small and medium-sized enterprises – SMEs – account for most businesses and employment in Asia and the Pacific’s developing economies. Reigniting the region’s SME growth via trade will be key to advancing inclusive economic recovery and resilience in the face of COVID-19 challenges. In this podcast, Waseda University professor emeritus and ADBI visiting fellow, Shujiro Urata, examines the importan...

Meeting developing Asia and the Pacific’s demand for quality infrastructure that can support inclusive post-pandemic growth will requires the steady but equitable acquisition of land. However, geography, settlement patterns, conflicting cultures, and unique country-level land use problems often raise concerns about the fairness of land procurement and undermine project viability. In this podcast,...

Like in other parts of Asia and the Pacific, small and medium-sized enterprises – SMEs – are the engine of developing Central Asian economies. Igniting the sector’s trade growth potential will be crucial to the region’s inclusive and sustainable COVID-19 recovery and development. In this podcast, ADBI Vice Chair of Research, Peter Morgan, examines SME trade challenges in Central Asia Regional Econ...

Greater digitalization of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, or MSMEs, could be the ticket to a speedy recovery of coronavirus shaken economies in Asia and the Pacific in 2021. In this podcast, ADBI Dean and CEO, Tetsushi Sonobe, discusses the importance of digital development for reviving growth among the region’s developing economies, related challenges and signs of progress, and the ro...