Whether social transfers should be targeted or universal is an unsolved debate that is particularly relevant for the implementation of social protection schemes in developing countries. While the limited availability of public resources encourages targeting, the difficulty in identifying the...

This paper compares the extent and the nature of the higher prevalence of poverty among disadvantaged ethnic groups in six Asian countries using demographic surveys. We first estimate a composite wealth index as a proxy for economic status, and analyze the magnitude of the ethnic gap in absolute...

The impact of growth on the distribution of income or consumption is regularly debated at both the scientific and policy levels. Within the micro-oriented literature dedicated to growth pro-poorness evaluation issues, the focus is specifically on the poverty impacts of growth. Considering a...

Growing internationalization of firms in Asia through participation in global value chains (GVCs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) has focused attention on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Yet there is scant literature on the characteristics of SMEs involved in GVCs and FTAs. Malaysia...

This paper aims to provide a non-technical explanation of the concept of trade in value added, with particular reference to East Asia. The trade in value added approach allows us to redefine the relationship between countries of origin and destination in international trade, and thereby...

This paper attempts to identify the firm and country-related factors that determine a firm's probability of participating in global value chains (GVCs) and level of GVC participation by using data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys, covering 111 countries and 38,966 firms for the...

In this study, we examine the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in global value chains (GVCs) and highlight the role of financial constraints in shaping their participation in GVCs. We use a rich unbalanced panel of 888 SMEs for Indian manufacturing over the period...

Many studies discuss the "de-industrialization" or "servicification" of economies in both developed and developing countries. Such studies rely on statistics that distinguish a manufacturing from a service sector. But in the age of global value chains (GVCs), it becomes increasingly difficult to...

This study assesses the determinants of global value chain (GVC) participation and the relationship between the degree of GVC participation and firms' performance. The main estimation method for both analyses is a panel fixed-effect regression employing unique panel firm-level data from the...

This study investigates the patterns of global value chain (GVC) participation of Pacific island countries (PICs) at the country, industry, and firm levels, utilizing UNCTAD-Eora GVC data (1999-2018) and the World Bank's Enterprise Survey data (2009 and 2015). It also uses the survey data to...