Using a growth accounting framework, we find that developing Asia grew rapidly over the past 3 decades mainly due to robust growth in capital accumulation. The contributions of education and total factor productivity in the region’s past economic growth remain relatively limited. Our baseline...

This study explores the different approaches to service delivery in fragile states by surveying donors' own evaluations of their existing fragile states policies. Because there is limited understanding of what works in risky environments, monitoring and evaluation are critical components of...

Despite solid evidence regarding the large benefits of reducing disaster risk, it has remained difficult to motivate sustained investment into disaster risk reduction (DRR). Recently, international policy debate has started to emphasize the need for focusing DRR investment toward actions that...

This study explores the different approaches to service delivery in fragile states by surveying donors' own evaluations of their existing fragile states policies. Because there is limited understanding of what works in risky environments, monitoring and evaluation are critical components of...

Investments in agricultural research and extension have consistently demonstrated high rates of return in Asia and the Pacific. However, the recent global food crisis exposed the vulnerability of food supply systems and reversed many past achievements in the fight against hunger and...

Matching grant programs administered to agricultural groups and cooperatives have emerged as a means of helping smallholder farmers to commercialize in Nepal. These programs help farmers to access information on new technologies, overcome barriers to productive investment, and connect with...

Investments in agricultural research and extension have consistently demonstrated high rates of return in Asia and the Pacific. However, the recent global food crisis exposed the vulnerability of food supply systems and reversed many past achievements in the fight against hunger and...

We present three conditions for a demography-driven middle-income trap and show that many economies in East, South, and Southeast Asia satisfy all of them. The conditions are (1) support ratio - the ratio of workers to consumers - matters for economic growth, (2) economic development accompanies...

This paper analyzes why the Philippines' growth performance has improved significantly in recent years. As in the medium to long term actual growth adjusts to potential, we posit that the reason behind this improvement is that the country's potential growth is increasing. We derive an estimate...

This paper examines prerequisites for a successful interstate economic corridor development program in a country with a federal system of government through an in-depth study of the design, implementation, and the developmental impact of the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) in Malaysia...