No society is devoid of institutions but many live with poor institutions. Institutions promote growth. This is a view now held firmly and widely. The task then is to engineer growth-promoting institutions. Endogeneity characterises institutions; for example, groups enjoying political power...

There is a strong presumption among economists that domestic reforms are promoted by regionalism. Yet strong empirical evidence for this proposition is lacking. This paper examines both the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence on this issue, drawing on the relevant economic,...

The paper investigates institutional reforms in Vietnam and their impact on the economic performance of firms. Using the provincial competitiveness index 2006 (PCI06) and firm-level data in Vietnam in 2005, the results show that provincial competitiveness is economically and statistically...

This paper reviews the experience of undertaking reforms in Indonesia after the economic crisis 1997/98, focusing on the reforms made under the last two presidents : Megawati and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The review leads the paper to draw some lessons from the experience. Among other, the role...

This paper reviews and highlights lessons from the stabilisation and reform programme that Thailand, Malaysia and Korea implemented in response to the 1997 crisis. The three countries rapid recovery from a deep economic downturn in 1998 and their reduced vulnerability to balance of payments...

Creation of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP) made Japans economic and fiscal policy making more transparent, consistent and coherent. This new institutional arrangement accelerated structural reform and improved economic and fiscal policy making in general, thus contributing to...

The paper studies the post-Asian crisis investment performance of crisis affected countries in ASEAN. The empirical evidence clearly indicates that the ASEAN and East Asian countries are emerging from the Asian crisis with strong output growth. As expected, the output growth seems to be driven...

This paper reviews the experience of undertaking reforms in Indonesia after the economic crisis 1997/98, focusing on the reforms made under the last two presidents - Megawati and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The review leads the paper to draw some lessons from the experience. Among other, the role...