A key lesson of the 2007–2009 global financial crisis (GFC) was the importance of containing systemic financial risk and the need for a “macroprudential†approach to surveillance and regulation that can identify system-wide risks and take appropriate actions to maintain...

This paper examines financing mechanisms to support infrastructure development and connectivity in Northeast Asia—comprising the Northeastern People’s Republic of China, Japan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, and the...

The Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011 was the biggest earthquake recorded in Japanese seismic history, and the fourth largest recorded in the world. The scope of the disaster far exceeded that of the Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. The repercussions of this disaster spread far...

In this paper we examine the changing nature of Japan’s commercial policy over the last 25 years while reviewing Japan’s changing structure of trade, FDI and economy that underlay policy changes. We argue that until the late 1990s Japan adopted a two-track approach of relying on...

In March and October 2005, the Government of Indonesia reduced fuel subsidy and allocated part of the funds to the BOS (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah-School Operational Assistance) Program, which commenced in July 2005. This program is provided for schools at the primary and junior high school...

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...

This report is the result of a rapid assessment of the first phase of the direct cash transfer program that is one part of the fuel subsidy reduction compensation program that is provided to poor households. The early observation and assessment of the administration of this program was needed in...

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...

This field verification study is part of the effort to develop small-area poverty maps for all regions in Indonesia. The small-area poverty maps that contain consumption based poverty estimates at the provincial, district, sub-district and village levels have been developed based on data...