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Economics, Finance sector development

Managing financial globalization: A guide for developing countries

Managing financial globalization: A guide for developing countries
As cross-border capital flows rise relative to world gross domestic product (GDP), developing countries do not wish to miss the associated benefits. But at the same time, they are also anxious about avoiding the associated economic instability and distortions. What is the right strategy with regards to international capital flows? We can draw lessons based on the recent literature.

Finance sector development, Urban development

New challenges, opportunities, and strategic choices for financing sustainable urbanization in the PRC

New challenges, opportunities, and strategic choices for financing sustainable urbanization in the PRC
In recent years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has accelerated its urbanization process and increased its urbanization rate from 35.88% in 2000 to 56.7% in 2016, equating to over 1% year-on-year growth. The PRC proposed the “people-oriented” New-type Urbanization Plan in 2014 to definitively release further domestic demand potential, promote social equity and welfare improvements, and facilitate economic, social, and ecological integrated development.

Finance sector development

Innovations in managing local government debt in the People’s Republic of China

Innovations in managing local government debt in the People’s Republic of China
The scale of local government debt (LGD) increased in most countries after the global financial crisis of 2008, resulting in accumulated potential fiscal risk and even systematic risk. Strengthening the management of LGD to avoid risk has become a hot topic. What is the current situation of LGD in the People’s Republic of China (PRC)? Is it high risk or not? What innovations are being implemented? Are there new challenges facing the Chinese government? What are the next steps? These issues, among others, have gained wide attention around the world.

Finance sector development, Poverty

Remittances as a trigger for postal financial inclusion

Remittances as a trigger for postal financial inclusion
More than 1 billion adult Asians rely on the region’s 350,000 post offices. Over 2 million employees in more than 350,000 post offices and agents across Asia serve 1 billion of the 3.2 billion adults in the region (more than 57% of the world’s adult population) by providing basic financial services, including the receipt of remittances. The majority of the users live in rural communities or peri-urban areas, often at a considerable distance from bank branches, and consider post offices as an immediate access point to financial services.

Economics, Education, Finance sector development, Governance and public sector management

Management quality and innovation

Management quality and innovation
It is well recognized that innovation is an important ingredient in generating the competitive advantage and long-run growth of nations, ultimately affecting their economic development. Thus, there is considerable interest in the determinants of innovation, not only in the corporate sector but also among policy makers around the world and in Asia in particular.

Economics, Finance sector development, Governance and public sector management

Unconventional Monetary Policy in the Asian Financial Crisis

Unconventional Monetary Policy in the Asian Financial Crisis
In a new paper, Unconventional Monetary Policy in the Asian Financial Crisis: Seeing the Crisis through Post-2008 Eyes, we reassess some of the policies central banks used during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–1998 in light of the responses of some advanced-economy central banks to the North Atlantic Financial Crisis of 2008. Public funding of bank recapitalizations in Thailand and the extraordinary purchase of equities in Hong Kong, China have elements of the unconventional monetary policy known as quantitative easing (QE) that has received so much attention in major advanced economies in recent years.

Economics, Finance sector development

Public equity markets and innovation

Public equity markets and innovation
One of the key challenges for policy makers today is fostering an environment that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship to create robust economic growth. Public equity markets are typically central to such environments, and in particular the ability of firms to go public through the initial public offering (IPO) process.

Economics, Education, Finance sector development, Poverty

What are the policy options for reversing productivity decline?

What are the policy options for reversing productivity decline?
The world economy at present is in the middle of profound adjustment. Slow economic growth and obvious economic divisions are resulting in the self-fulfilling “low-growth trap”, while productivity is declining all over the world and income inequality is worsening at the country level. These trends have been interacting and blending with each other since the global financial crisis of 2008 and have triggered a vicious cycle that has become an obstacle to world economic recovery.

Economics, Education, Finance sector development

Financial literacy and savings: Evidence from Cambodia and Viet Nam

Financial literacy and savings: Evidence from Cambodia and Viet Nam
Financial literacy has gained an important position in the policy agenda of many countries, and the importance of collecting informative, reliable data on the levels of financial literacy across adult populations has been widely recognized (OECD/INFE 2015a). At their summit in Los Cabos in 2012, G20 leaders endorsed the High-Level Principles on National Strategies for Financial Education developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development International Network on Financial Education (OECD/INFE), thereby acknowledging the importance of coordinated policy approaches to financial education (G20 2012).

Economics, Finance sector development, Poverty, Social development and protection

International remittances and poverty reduction

International remittances and poverty reduction
The World Bank (2014) estimates that international remittances to developing countries reached $436 billion in 2014. Remittances to the East Asia and the Pacific region and the South Asia region account for the largest and second-largest shares in the world. The authors examine the impact of international remittances on poverty reduction to determine whether such remittances contributed to a reduction in various indicators of poverty.