The study analyzes the impact of changes in outbound tourism from the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the subregions of Asia and the Pacific-Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Central and West Asia, and the Pacific. It conducts three simulations to understand the broader economic and...

Export diversification, or the breadth of exports of an economy, is increasingly seen as a means of accelerating economic growth, mitigating instability due to price, demand, and exchange rate fluctuations, and stabilizing earnings from exports in the long run. As economies integrate into global...

Real exchange rate (RER) misalignment, which is the deviation between the actual real exchange rate from its equilibrium, occurs frequently among developing economies. Studies have shown that RER misalignment may have negative economic implications, such as a reduction in economic growth,...

Cross-border bank positions in Asia and the Pacific remain highly concentrated to few counterparties, exposing the region to financial risks and policy spillovers. Consequently, assessing the determinants and impacts of the region's cross-border banking concentration is relevant to the design of...

This paper reviews the recent progress toward gender equality in developing Asia by examining a number of indicators proposed under the Millennium Development Goal 3 plus approach, focusing on gender inequalities in education and health outcomes (capability) and in labor market and political...

This paper uses results from leading biophysical models in an established macro-economic modeling framework to offer insights on potential economic consequences of climate change in Asia and the Pacific. The analysis covers shocks in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, energy demand, capital (from...

Three major global crises since 2008 have pushed up public and external debt ratios and associated risks across much of Asia and the Pacific. This is confirmed by debt ratio projections and evidence of widening pockets of vulnerability picked up by regional heat maps in this paper. By and large,...

Asia and the Pacific has the most diverse regional pension landscape globally. Yet the region's pension systems are facing common challenges as they attempt to expand coverage, and ensure adequacy and fairness, while maintaining fiscal sustainability. We review the structures and performance of...

Asia is home to 60% of the world's population, 52% of global agricultural production, and 43% of agriculture-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While a large portion of the Asian population depends on agriculture for their livelihood and food security, the agriculture sector is one of the...

Limited data on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) make it difficult for governments to design appropriate MSME policies in Asia and the Pacific. To identify factors affecting MSME development and promote evidence-based policymaking, we propose a probabilistic principal component...