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...

The paper investigates the labor market and social impacts of the global financial and economic crisis in Asia and the Pacific as well as national policy responses to the crisis. It draws on recent macroeconomic, trade, production, investment, and remittances data to assess the employment and...

Foreign capital inflows (FKI) help an economy by financing the imbalance between income and expenditure. However, their impact on poverty in the recipient economy is a controversial issue. In this study, we examine the impact on poverty in two different scenarios : (1) labour is homogeneous; (2)...

This report documents the results of a pilot project on a new poverty monitoring system that improves the current system in three areas. First, it involves the locals in monitoring poverty in their own area. Second, the poverty indicators are sensitive to local conditions, accurate, and cannot...

The Raskin program is a subsidized rice program for poor families which provides 10 kg of rice per poor households at the price of Rp1,000 per kg. This report describes the findings of the study undertaken by the SMERU Research Institute to uncover the effectiveness of the Raskin program in...

Poverty reduction is a top priority for international organizations, governments and non-governmental organizations. The aid resources available for poverty reduction are, however, severely constrained in many countries. Minimizing the leakage of aid resources to the non-poor is a key to...

The selection criteria for research locations for Moving Out of Poverty (MOP) in Indonesia uses two main variables : the level of conflict intensity and level of economic growth. The village of Gura in Kabupaten Halmahera, in the Province of Maluku Utara, represents the sample area with a high...

Poverty is an extremely complex phenomenon that is linked to many specific factors and contexts. In the present study, the dynamics of poverty including movements out of poverty are seen as part of the social mobility that occurs in a community. This study specifically aims to understand why and...

This paper analyzes the impacts of the 1998 and 2008 financial crises on the Korean labor market. We study the historical background of the Korean Employment Insurance System and the change of labor policies from the 1998 Asian financial crisis to the current 2008 global financial crisis. While...

The paper addresses three fundamental issues under a long-run perspective : (1) growth and productivity, (2) competitiveness, and (3) income distribution. Unit labor costs (ulcs) and unit capital cost (ukcs) are calculated as the indicators of competitiveness in Thailand. Both series explain...