This study addresses three questions that arise in Asia when formulating, financing, implementing, and maintaining transnational linkages versus purely domestic connections. Firstly, how is optimal economic space to be defined as a useful starting point? Secondly, how can relevant criteria be...

This paper summarizes the conceptual rationale for investment liberalization to fully exploit the potential of regional trading arrangements. It goes on to examine the treatment of investment in emerging FTAs/RTAs in the Asia-Pacific region and the specific investment provisions and their...

There is tremendous momentum for economic and financial integration in East Asia today. Partly inspired by the formation of the European Union and partly as a response to the 1997/98 Asia financial crisis, many East Asian countries are showing greater commitment to regional economic cooperation....

To make Asia more economically sustainable and resilient against external shocks, regional economies need to be rebalanced toward regional demand- and trade-driven growth through increased regional connectivity. The effectiveness of connectivity depends on the quality of hard and soft...

As the spread of SARS had shown last year, the longer-term goal of an East Asian Community (ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea) may already be crystallizing much faster than was initially thought, thanks to increasing people-to-people contacts and the freer movement of goods, services, tourists...

This paper, which is borne out of the need to address scarcity of evidence-based studies on barangay financing, analyzes and evaluates key issues on financing of devolved functions at the barangay level, with particular focus on fund utilization and program allocation, and proposes some policy...

This paper provides a general overview of the allocation of revenues and expenditures across levels of governments in Canada and discusses how public services in specific areas are financed and delivered. In doing so, the paper draws attention to a number of important characteristics of the...

In the past few years, the government has developed and installed a unique model of performance-based budgeting known as the Organizational Performance Indicator Framework (OPIF). The OPIF demonstrates the relationship between an agencys programs, activities and projects (PAPs), the goods and...

Over 330 million people live in Indias cities; 35 cities have a population of over a million and three (Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata) of the 10 largest metropolises in the world are in India. Indias cities are large, economically important, and growing. However, neither urban infrastructure nor...

The establishment of sovereign wealth funds in large developing countries has generated hot debate among participants in the international financial market. When accumulated foreign exchange reserves surpass a sufficient and an appropriate level, the costs, risks and impacts on the macro-economy...