Asia's Developing Future

On the eve of the G20 summit in Osaka, representatives of the Think20, the G20’s research and policy advisory network, met with Japan Prime Minister Abe Shinzo to discuss T20 policy recommendations for consideration by G20 leaders during the proceedings. ADBI Dean and T20 Japan Chair Naoyuki Yoshino was among them and will champion T20 proposals during the G20 summit in Osaka. Read the transcript...

Rapid development is spiking global infrastructure demand and driving policy makers to seek trillions of dollars in funding for projects ranging from roads, ports, and airports to water and sanitation systems to digital networks. Greater productivity, poverty reduction, and inclusive growth hinge on meeting these financing needs and advancing the build-up of quality infrastructure, says ADBI Dean...

A growing number of G20 countries are confronted with rapidly aging societies. This demographic transition poses a serious threat to economic stability, as ADBI Deputy Dean Chul Ju Kim, lead co-chair of the T20 Japan task force on population aging, explains. Read the transcript https://bit.ly/2F5JZE7 Visit the T20 website https://t20japan.org Read Task Force 10: Aging Population and its Economic I...

Think 20 (T20) is the research and policy advice network for the G20 which in 2019 is chaired by ADBI as part of Japan’s G20 presidency. In this podcast, we look at T20 policy solutions for addressing the Future of Work and Education for the Digital Age. The Lead Co-Chair of the T20 Japan task force tackling this rapidly emerging issue is Dr Peter Morgan, ADBI Senior Consulting Economist and Vice...

Large-scale funding is needed to transform fossil fuel dominated energy markets into a low-carbon energy sector, and that requires private sector participation, both in terms of investment and institution building, especially in Asia, which is the current growth center of the world. Countries have to accelerate further investment into low-carbon energy infrastructure to meet their Paris Climate Ch...

The Think20 (T20), the G20’s research and policy advice network, will hold its annual summit in Tokyo on 26-27 May 2019 to detail groundbreaking policy innovations for consideration by G20 Leaders during their summit in Osaka one month later. In this episode of Asia’s Developing Future, T20 Japan Chair, ADBI Dean Naoyuki Yoshino, explains how the T20’s empirical approach to policy development coul...

Fast-growing Bangladesh is getting richer but environmental issues are being left behind. It may be time to take a step back and look at what could and should be done to avert a potential catastrophe. Bangladesh is one of the countries most exposed to climate change events. Almost 75% of its territory lies less than 10 meters above sea level, and more than 700 rivers run through its territory. Flo...

The share of national income earned by workers has been falling in most countries, and inequality has been rising as a result. The opposite is true in Malaysia. But what seems to be good news there is masking a worrying trend. Income share has become a focus of economists and social policy advocates as the share of income taken by workers has fallen and that earned by the owners of capital has ris...

The global trend to more open trade and migration has benefited the global economy, but the share of income taken by labor has been declining at the same time. As protectionism and anti-migration policies grow in some countries, the role of globalization in the declining share of labor income has become a focus. That labor is seeing a decline in its share of income in many countries has been shown...

Viet Nam has made ambitious commitments to combat climate change under the Paris Agreement, but only by making massive changes will it be able to live up to those plans. Viet Nam’s carbon intensity—or the use of carbon in its economy—is currently the second highest in Asia. The growth in the amount of greenhouse gasses it produces is among the fastest in the world. Rather than demonstrating a clea...

Limits to internal migration increase disparity and keep the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from reaping the full benefit of its trade and industry success. The PRC’s internal registration system, known as “hukou,” calls for residents to be registered and identified in the places they live. Although the system has been somewhat relaxed over the last few decades, obtaining hukou in cities such as...

Services firms can help manufacturing grow in developing countries. But the quality and technological competence of those companies is what matters most when it comes to positive spillover effects. The simple existence of service firms isn’t enough to make a difference for manufacturers. In addition, countries which allow more open trade in services can expect to see a greater benefit for their ma...

Liberalizing energy markets so that locally generated renewable energy projects have a chance to compete with big utilities is only the first step in getting those projects off the ground. Other policies are needed to ensure the participation of local politicians and consumers. Those policies should promote financial returns from local power suppliers that are large enough to compete with traditio...

A general tax on consumption that would fund the development of a low-carbon energy system is the only way greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced in time to benefit future generations. The solutions being tried now are not getting the job done. That’s the message of a recent working paper for the Asian Development Bank Institute. The paper explains why the solutions most commonly being used now...

Research has shown that better access to banking can help lift people out of poverty. A recent study in Bangladesh confirms that link. But it also suggests that policy makers should consider the large regional and local differences when applying regulations. The study, detailed in a recent working paper for the Asian Development Bank Institute, matched maps compiled from poverty data in Bangladesh...

Advances in financial technology can help farmers in Asia raise money to improve their operations and deal with the risks that come from uncertain weather and other factors outside their control. A mass migration is taking place in Asia as people move from farms to the cities, raising standards of living as countries industrialize. Still, farming remains very important to much of developing Asia....

Indian cities should establish teams to tap the expertise contained within their global counterparts. Rather than starting from scratch, they can jump ahead by connecting with counterparts that have already navigated the challenges they face. For example, they can learn how to brand themselves as prime locations for corporate ecosystems by partnering with global peers. The home for these collabora...

Thailand has been using tax policies to promote growth and encourage foreign investment. Some of those measures have succeeded but more attention needs to be paid to the revenue-raising side of the tax regime. Globalization has disrupted the way countries think about their tax regimes. In the past, the issue of double taxation was at the forefront, whether companies would have to pay tax in both t...

Increasing the use of property and income taxes in the People’s Republic of China won’t be popular, but it is necessary. Relying more on property and income tax will not only help the China government balance its budget but could smooth income inequality and limit unrestrained urban expansion. As countries develop, they tend to keep balance between indirect taxes such as a levy on goods and servic...

Postal savings banks should be developed as a key factor of the economies in emerging Asia. Building or rebuilding postal savings banks would help modernize and deepen financial systems that are still vulnerable to the whims of global capital flows, as well as provide financial services to citizens who lack access to them. A recent book published by the Asian Development Bank Institute, Postal Sav...

The Bank of Japan’s ongoing purchases of Japanese stocks has warped the country’s equity markets. Every day it continues will make the eventual unwinding of those holdings harder, both for the central bank and for the markets themselves. In January 2013, the BOJ introduced a 2% price stability target in an effort to extract the country from more than a decade of stagnant or falling prices. That in...

Postal savings banks can expand their financial services and bring them to more people, by using foreign remittances as a springboard. With $250 billion in remittances flowing into Asia every year, postal savings banks can provide cheaper and easier ways for people to access those funds and become one-stop-shops for financial services in Asia. That’s the suggestion of a recent book published by th...

Regulations need to be stronger, and their implementation needs to be simpler, to bring more small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into Indonesia’s tax system. SMEs are an important and growing segment of Indonesia’s economy but they are under-represented when it comes to paying tax. In 2015, SMEs accounted for 60% of the country’s gross domestic product. The SME sector has been growing fast...

Postal savings banks have a better record than other financial institutions when it comes to giving women access to financial services. But even more could be done if countries expanded the use of postal savings banks, especially if postal authorities were to actively focus on services attractive to women. Studies have shown that household wealth and income increase when women have more access to...

Growing populations of the overweight and obese are putting a multi-billion-dollar strain on health costs in developing countries and stifling economic growth. A new book by the Asian Development Bank Institute gathers analyses by economists, doctors, and public health experts on the issue. Overweight and Obesity in Asia and the Pacific: Trends, Costs, and Policies for Better Health was edited by...