Growth Slowdowns, Middle-Income Trap, and Demographic Profile in South AsiaThis paper examines how investment in human capital is critical for innovation. Analyzing the different growth-promoting factors in South Asian economies, with a focus on demographics, and factors that can help shift middle-income countries to high-income countries, it concludes that economic transition is affected by firms’ productive advantages—ability to compete with high-skilled producers, low-wage exporters—and education-based growth, which can help advance the country's technological capacity. Author: S. P. Jayasooriya Year: 2017 Download Tags: Economics, Employment, Manufacturing, Economic Corridor, South Asia Research Handbook on Trade in ServicesThis Research Handbook explores the latest developments in services trade by drawing on insights from experts with a range of perspectives, including empirical economics, law and global political economy. The book further chronicles the rising stakes and involvement of developing countries in global services trade, notably their growing insertion in global value chains, as well as the latest advances and remaining challenges in the statistical measurement of trade in services. Author: Pierre Sauvé and Martin Roy, editors Year: 2016 Download Tags: Services, Trade, Economics, Trade Facilitation, Trade Policy  Unlocking Bhutan’s Potential: Measuring Potential Output for the Small, Landlocked Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan The hydropower sector has driven Bhutan's economic growth in the past two decades with growth rates averaging 7.9%. Yet, the economy has not been invulnerable to market fluctuations and external shocks. This ADB South Asia Working Paper analyzes how Bhutan can create sustainable and inclusive growth, alongside the continuous expansion of its hydropower industry. It examines how certain policies can impact Bhutan's potential growth over 2013–2030. Results show that higher investment in education, health, and efforts to diversify its economic base—including enhancement of new industries with linkages to regional and global value chains—can further drive economic growth and improve the country's living standards. Author: Sabyasachi Mitra, Sarah Carrington, and Anthony Baluga Year: 2014 Download Tags: Bhutan, Energy, Economics, Hydropower, ADB, South Asia, Sustainability, Global Value Chains, Economic Growth Regional Transit Agreement in South Asia: An Empirical InvestigationThis discussion paper published by the South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment assesses the potential gains of a sub-regional transit arrangement and the removal of other border-trade barriers, particularly the eastern South Asia sub-region (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal). It also discusses the link between transit and trade flows, provides profiles of intra-regional transit trade and current transit arrangements in South Asia, and identifies efficient regional transit corridors using linear programming or the Data Envelopment Analysis model. Author: Prabir De and Arvind Kumar Year: 2014 Download Tags: South Asia, Trade, Transport, Economics, Economic Corridor, SASEC, SAARC, UNESCAP, Customs, Harmonisation, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka South Asia Economic Focus: The Export OpportunityThis bi-annual report presents the recent economic developments, outlook, and policy of the following South Asian countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It highlights developing country growth as fairly robust. Meanwhile, India’s growth rate is slowly increasing and its inflation rate declining. South Asian economies solidified their external positions by easing pressures to finance current account deficits, yet face domestic challenges such as reducing fiscal risks, supporting higher levels of investment, and sustaining export growth. Author: The World Bank Year: 2014 Download Tags: South Asia, Trade, Economics, WB, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka Asian Development Outlook 2014 Update: Asia in Global Value ChainsAs developing Asia continues along a stable growth path, India maintains a 5.5% growth forecast for 2014 and shows promise of a turnaround. Reforms are envisioned for 2015, including a forecast 0.3% upgrade to 6.3%. Bhutan recorded the largest current account deficit as a percentage of GDP, due to imports used in construction of several large hydropower projects that will expand its energy export capacity to India. Meanwhile, South Asia is expected to perform with greater momentum in 2015, with a growth forecast upgrade to 6.1% from 5.8%. Most of the improvements in the subregion are from India’s deficit and Bangladesh’s current account. Nepal also shows improved outlook for 2015. Author: Asian Development Bank Year: 2014 Download Tags: South Asia, Global Value Chains, India, Economics, Trade  Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2014This year's edition presents an in-depth inquiry on poverty in Asia, tackling whether the $1.25/day extreme poverty standard still accurately depicts minimum living standard of the poor in Asia and the Pacific. Using this broad measure, the poverty rate is projected to fall to 24.5% for South Asia by 2030, if recent economic growth trends continue. However, considering the current national poverty line average among today's less developed economies in the region, an Asia-specific extreme poverty line is more accurately estimated at $1.51/day, increasing Asia’s poverty rate in 2010 by 9.8%, and of a large economy like India by 15%. Hence, despite huge gains made, reducing poverty remains a pressing challenge in Asia and the Pacific. This book proposes several measures to counteract worsening poverty, including close regional cooperation which can reduce a country’s vulnerability, and urgent policy actions that promote economic growth and prioritize climate change adaptation and mitigation. Author: Asian Development Bank Year: 2014 Download Tags: Poverty Reduction, Disaster Risk, Regional Cooperation, Asia-Pacific, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Economics, Energy, India, Maldives, Milennium Development Goals, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sustainability, Transport  Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report offers a platform for dialogue among key stakeholders in government, business, and civil society on improving the living standards of the world’s citizens through insights on institutions, policies, and factors that drive or hinder growth and national competitiveness. Using the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), twelve pillars are considered, including infrastructure, which, among factor-driven economies of Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, impacts the location of economic activity, reduces distance between regions, and enables production and faster flow of goods. Market size—essential for countries with small domestic markets—is another key index measured. The 2013-2014 report also includes an assessment of newly-covered Bhutan, and an analysis for the drop in India's GCI ranking. Author: Klaus Schwab Year: 2014 Download Tags: Economics, Poverty Reduction, Infrastructure, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Energy, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Transport Globalization in an Age of Crisis: Multilateral Economic Cooperation in the 21st CenturyIs globalization in retreat, ask editors of Globalization in an Age of Crisis. Hosting discussions on multilateralism in trade and macroeconomic issues, the book considers international policy making following the global economic crisis of 2008-2009 that saw countries prioritize policy initiatives advancing national interests over international economic cooperation. Critical junctures are considered, including the current WTO round and whether it can deliver on its promise to improve trading prospects of developing countries (chapter 3), and the compatibility of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with multilateral trading systems (chapter 4). Empirical assessments measuring the 'successes' of existing PTAs are also included. Author: Robert C. Feenstra and Alan M. Taylor Year: 2014 Download Tags: Trade Policy, Trade, Economics, WTO Macroeconomic Update: NepalThis issue explores various dimensions of Nepal’s export competitiveness, and stresses the need to address crippling domestic supply-side constraints to boost exports. It suggests that the country needs to properly utilize technical assistance through various financing windows to address constraints such as inadequate infrastructure, political instability, labor disputes, deficiency in human resources and research and development, among others. Author: Asian Development Bank Year: 2014 Download Tags: Economics, Trade Policy, Nepal Asian Market Development and Integration: Challenges and OpportunitiesThis book, co-published by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Korea Capital Market Institute (KCMI), in collaboration with the Peterson Institute for International Economics, examines the path of capital market development in Asia since the 2008 global crisis. It presents the analytical framework for addressing capital market integration at the regional level and its likely impacts. Author: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Korea Capital Market Institute(KCMI), eds. Year: 2014 Download Tags: Economics, Trade Policy, Regional Integration, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka The Political Economy of Asian RegionalismThis book reviews the political economy of Asia's economic cooperation and integration and focuses on the innovations needed for current institutional reform in the region. It analyzes Asian regionalism after the global financial crisis including free trade agreements. The book also discusses the possible formation of a region-wide economic community. Author: Giovanni Capannelli, Masahiro Kawai Year: 2014 Download Tags: Economics, Regional Cooperation Potential Growth in Emerging AsiaThis paper estimates potential growth for China, India, and five ASEAN countries during 1993-2013. It states that India has exhibited a slowdown in potential growth, reflecting a decline of total factor productivity growth. The paper also puts forward that demographic factors will be much more supportive in the future as the working-age population starts to decrease. Author: Rahul Anand, Kevin Cheng, Sidra Rehman, Longmei Zhang Year: 2014 Download Tags: Economics, India, ASEAN, Trade Climate Action South Asia: Information Update No. 3 (The Economics of Climate Change in South Asia: Adaptation and Impact Assessment)Analyses show that the cost of early action on climate change in South Asia is lower than
the cost of damage brought about by climate change impacts. In physical terms, the region
will face water shortage and agricultural food production losses, which are vital to achieving
poverty reduction and other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Author: Asian Development Bank Year: 2013 Download Tags: Economics, Climate, Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, South Asia, Milennium Development Goals, Sustainability, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Poverty Reduction, Hydropower, Energy Climate Action South Asia: Information Update No. 2 (Economics of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in South Asia: Options and Costs)The study Economics of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Options and Costs in Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka reveals excellent opportunities in low-carbon green growth by pursuing resource- and energyefficient technologies that would lower emissions of greenhouse gases at low cost or even cost saving (benefits). Author: Asian Development Bank Year: 2013 Download Tags: Economics, Climate, Climate Change, Economics, South Asia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Energy, Environment, Sustainability, ADB, Nepal, Development, Hydropower Climate Action South Asia: Information Update No. 2 (Economics of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in South Asia: Options and Costs)The study Economics of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Options and Costs in Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka reveals excellent opportunities in low-carbon green growth by pursuing resource- and energyefficient technologies that would lower emissions of greenhouse gases at low cost or even cost saving (benefits). Author: Asian Development Bank Year: 2013 Download Tags: Economics, Climate, Climate Change, Economics, South Asia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Energy, Environment, Sustainability, ADB, Nepal, Development, Hydropower Climate Action South Asia: Information Update No. 1 (Development in an Era of Accentuated Climate Risks)To steer South Asian economies toward green, low-carbon, and climate-resilient development and for these to take hold in South Asia, the countries need (i) better understanding and greater public awareness of the implications of climate change, (ii) climate risks screening and decision-support tools for identifying actions and managing results, (iii) improved governance and institutional capacities to take necessary actions to manage climate change impacts, (iv) funding sources for such actions, and (v) projects and programs demonstrating positive results that can be scaled up. Author: Asian Development Bank Year: 2012 Download Tags: Economics, Climate, Climate Change, Environment, Sustainability, South Asia, Development, Economic Growth, ADB Pan-Asian IntegrationIn today's globalized world where the economic fates of nations are inevitably linked, weathering the present economic storm for Asia will increasingly depend on harnessing regional dynamics particularly on the trade front. Pan-Asian Integration: Linking East and South Asia is a rich volume of perspectives from leading thematic experts on regional patterns of trade and investment, trade-related infrastructure, trade facilitation, among others. Author: Asian Development Bank Year: 2009 Download Tags: Regional Cooperation, Regional Integration, Trade Policy, Transport, Trade Facilitation, Economics, India, Free Trade Agreements |
