This paper analyzes the impact of infrastructure investment on tax revenues and on the economy of the region. In 1991, the Kyushu high-speed rail line was constructed and was completed in 2003. In 2004, the rail line started operating from Kagoshima to Kumamoto. The entire line was opened in...

The objective of this paper is to examine the nature and magnitude of the effects of infrastructure provision on regional economic performance. The empirical evidence of our analysis is based on difference-in-difference estimation linking the changes in the growth rate of regional-level economic...

This paper investigates the effect of related and unrelated variety on regional growth in West Germany. In particular, we analyze the role of regional absorptive capacity and new business formation for these effects. We find that West German regions benefit from both types of varieties. The...

This paper discusses suggested ways to bring private sector finance into water supply and inland water transport. Typically, such water projects rely only on user charges as sources of revenues. For example, ships using inland waterways have to pay user charges to the government for port...

In many Asian countries, land acquisition is one of the main challenges for infrastructure development which delays the completion of projects and lowers the rate of return of infrastructure investment. This paper investigates the potential application of the land trust scheme, which Japan has...

One of the main challenges in low-income Asia and the Pacific countries is users' willingness to pay for water services. In contrast, investors and private operators in the water sector prefer a high rate of return. This has often led to the failure of public-private partnerships for water...

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of information and communications technology (ICT) not only for the economy but also for human well-being. However, the investment gap in ICT infrastructure has been growing and is expected to reach more than $30 billion by 2040. We argue that one...

During decades of market development, the individual financial markets of the member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been progressively incorporated into regional and international markets. The aim of this study is to explore and measure the strength and...

New firm location decisions, relative to incumbents may be based on a choice between two types of advantages: natural advantages or those that arise from social embeddedness, the latter of which may particularly include knowledge spillovers. We analyze the relative importance of geographically...

In 2016, 88.90% of Asia and the Pacific's primary energy consumption was from fossil fuel, and almost 40% of the global CO2 emissions were from Asia and the Pacific. In order to ensure the increasing energy needs of the region are in line with sustainable development goals, addressing the...