Building Disability-inclusive Societies in Asia and the Pacific

Building Disability-inclusive Societies in Asia and the Pacific
Author: United Nations Publications
Publisher: UN
Total Pages: 94
Release: 2018
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

"Building Disability-Inclusive Societies in Asia and the Pacific: Assessing Progress of the Incheon Strategy presents the first regional comprehensive progress report on participation of persons with disabilities in development opportunities at the midpoint of the implementation of the Incheon Strategy. The Incheon Strategy to 'Make the Right Real!' for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific sets out 10 goals, 27 targets and 62 indicators through which the social, political and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities could be tracked. This publication provides policymakers across different ministries, as well as civil society and persons with disabilities, with the chance to reflect on the status of disability-inclusive development in the region, and set forward a path ensuring that persons with disabilities are included and empowered across all dimensions of sustainable development."--Back cover.

Meeting Asia's Infrastructure Needs

Meeting Asia's Infrastructure Needs
Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2017-02-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9292577549

Infrastructure is essential for development. This report presents a snapshot of the current condition of developing Asia's infrastructure---defined here as transport, power, telecommunications, and water supply and sanitation. It examines how much the region has been investing in infrastructure and what will likely be needed through 2030. Finally, it analyzes the financial and institutional challenges that will shape future infrastructure investment and development.

Growing Smarter

Growing Smarter
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2018-04-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1464812691

One-quarter of the world’s school-age children live in East Asia and Pacific. During the past 50 years, some economies in the region have successfully transformed themselves by investing in the continuous upgrading of the knowledge, skills, and abilities of their workforce. Through policy foresight, they have produced graduates with new levels of knowledge and skills almost as fast as industries have increased their demand for skilled workers. Yet the success of these high-performing systems has not been replicated throughout the region. Tens of millions of students are in school but not learning, and as many as 60 percent of students remain in school systems that are struggling to escape from the global learning crisis or in systems where performance is likely poor. Many students in these systems fail to reach basic levels of proficiency in key subjects and are greatly disadvantaged because of it. Growing Smarter: Learning and Equitable Development in East Asia and Pacific focuses on the experiences of economies in the region that have been able to expand schooling and learning and showcases those that have managed to pursue successful education reforms at scale. By examining these experiences, the report provides both diagnoses and detailed recommendations for improvement not only for education systems within East Asia and Pacific but also for countries across the globe. In East Asia and Pacific, the impressive record of success in education in some low- and middle-income countries is proof of concept that schooling in resource-constrained contexts can lead to learning for all. This report identifies the policies and practices necessary to ensure that students learn and suggests how countries can improve learning outcomes.

Trade in Services in the Asia-Pacific Region

Trade in Services in the Asia-Pacific Region
Author: Takatoshi Ito
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 510
Release: 2007-11-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226386783

In recent years the tremendous growth of the service sector—including international trade in services—has outstripped that of manufacturing in many industrialized nations. As the importance of services has grown, economists have begun to focus on policy issues raised by them and have tried to understand what, if any, differences there are between production and delivery of goods and services. This volume is the first book-length attempt to analyze trade in services in the Asia-Pacific region. Contributors provide overviews of basic issues involved in studying the service sector; investigate the impact of increasing trade in services on the economies of Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong; present detailed analyses of specific service sectors (telecommunications, financial services, international tourism, and accounting); and extend our understanding of trade in services beyond the usual concept (measured in balance of payment statistics) to include indirect services and services undertaken abroad by subsidiaries and affiliates.

Inequality in Asia and the Pacific

Inequality in Asia and the Pacific
Author: Ravi Kanbur
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2014-02-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134670206

Asia’s rapid economic growth has led to a significant reduction in extreme poverty, but accompanied by rising inequality. This book deals with three questions: What have been the trends of inequality in Asia and the Pacific? What are the key drivers of rising inequality in the region? How should Asian countries respond to the rising inequality? Technological change, globalization, and market-oriented reform have been the key drivers of Asia’s remarkable growth and poverty reduction, but they have also had significant distribution consequences. These three drivers of growth cannot be hindered because they are the sources of productivity improvement and betterment of quality of life. This book will be useful to those interested in policy options that could be deployed by Asian countries in confronting rising inequality.

Financial Inclusion in Asia-Pacific

Financial Inclusion in Asia-Pacific
Author: Ms.Elena Loukoianova
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 139
Release: 2018-09-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484371011

Asia has made significant progress in financial inclusion, but both its across-country and intra-country disparities are among the highest in the world. The gaps between the rich and the poor, rural and urban populations, and men and women remain deep. Income is the main determinant of the level of financial inclusion; but other factors, such as geography, financial sector structure, and policies, also play important roles. While some countries in the Asia-Pacific region are leaders in fintech, on average the region lags behind others in several important areas such as online (internet) purchases, electronic payments, mobile money, and mobile government transfers. This Departmental Paper aims to take stock of the development and current state of financial inclusion and shed light on policies to advance financial inclusion in the region. The research focuses on the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth, poverty reduction, and inequality, linkages between financial inclusion and macroeconomic policies, as well as structural policies that are important for improving financial inclusion. Given the increasing importance of financial technologies (fintech), the paper also provides a snapshot of the fintech landscape in the Asia-Pacific.

The Innovation Imperative for Developing East Asia

The Innovation Imperative for Developing East Asia
Author: Xavier Cirera
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2021-05-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464816565

After a half century of transformative economic progress that moved hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, countries in developing East Asia are facing an array of challenges to their future development. Slowed productivity growth, increased fragility of the global trading system, and rapid changes in technology are all threatening export-oriented, labor-intensive manufacturing—the region’s engine of growth. Significant global challenges—such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic—are exacerbating economic vulnerability. These developments raise questions about whether the region’s past model of development can continue to deliver rapid growth and poverty reduction. Against this background, The Innovation Imperative in Developing East Asia aims to deepen understanding of the role of innovation in future development. The report examines the state of innovation in the region and analyzes the main constraints that firms and countries face to innovating. It assesses current policies and institutions, and lays out an agenda for action to spur more innovation-led growth. A key finding of the report is that countries’ current innovation policies are not aligned with their capabilities and needs. Policies need to strengthen the capacity of firms to innovate and support technological diffusion rather than just invention. Policy makers also need to eliminate policy biases against innovation in services, a sector that is growing in economic importance. Moreover, countries need to strengthen key complementary factors for innovation, including firms’ managerial quality, workers’ skills, and finance for innovation. Countries in developing East Asia would also do well to deepen their tradition of international openness, which could foster openness in other parts of the world. Doing so would help sustain the flows of ideas, trade, investment, and people that facilitate the creation and diffusion of knowledge for innovation.

Partnership for Development

Partnership for Development
Author: Nilufa Akhter Khanom
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2013-01-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1443845566

Poverty has been identified as one of the world’s biggest problems. The international community recognises that reducing global poverty is one of the major development challenges of the twenty-first century. The problem of poverty is particularly severe in Bangladesh, where a variety of poverty alleviation initiatives have been tried. The most recent one involves Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), which are collaborations between partners in different sectors. PPPs are assumed to be effective for reducing poverty as they are seen to optimise the use of scarce resources, promote economic growth, and enhance efficiency. The Government of Bangladesh has recognised the use of PPPs as an innovative and effective approach for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. Partnership for Development addresses this major policy issue by examining the novel arrangements of PPPs to determine how this approach can assist in alleviating poverty. This book explores different PPP arrangements for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh and evaluates their performance and effects. It identifies opportunities and constraints affecting these PPPs. It utilises the multiple-case study methodology, examining two cases, namely, the Income Generation for Vulnerable Group Development (IGVGD) and Rural Micro Credit (RMC) PPPs that have been introduced in Bangladesh as poverty alleviation measures. The book also identifies the rationale, features and mechanisms of the IGVGD and RMC PPPs using interviews with key persons who were involved in the policy making, and in the design and implementation of the PPPs. Different stakeholders were asked about the effects of the PPPs and suggestions for their improvement. The beneficiaries were also asked about the economic and social changes to their lives as a result of the PPPs. A model of PPPs for poverty alleviation is developed from the literature on the subject and then used to analyse the data from the Bangladesh case studies.

Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2021

Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2021
Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher:
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2021-08-24
Genre:
ISBN: 9789292690205

This publication provides updated statistics on a comprehensive set of economic, financial, social, and environmental measures as well as select indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report covers the 49 regional members of ADB. It discusses trends in development progress and the challenges to achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth across Asia and the Pacific. This 52nd edition discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the challenges of meeting development targets, which needed urgent attention even before the global health crisis began. To put into practice the "leave no one behind" principle of the SDGs, the availability of more detailed and informative data is crucial. With the pandemic intensifying society's reliance on digital platforms for remote working and learning, as well as for shopping and entertainment, the 2021 report features a special supplement, Capturing the Digital Economy: A Proposed Measurement Framework and Its Applications, which is rooted in input-output analysis and uses readily available national accounts data. The study provides a sound basis on which to assess the relative importance of the digital economy in national and global production processes.