The global economic slowdown has again highlighted the vulnerability of export-led development models and economies to downturns in export markets. Economic deepening or "rebalancing" with an emphasis on service-sector development should be - and is becoming - one long-term response to the...

Regional economic integration agreements are considered to be important policy mechanisms to address regional developmental asymmetries. The Asian reality is characterized by developmental asymmetries across countries on the one hand and a lack of comprehensive pan-Asian formal regional economic...

This study is a comprehensive, empirical analysis of the linkages between governance, institutions, and regional infrastructure. The empirical results indicate that governance and institutions are crucial for regional infrastructure development: every one point improvement in governance results...

In the run-up to the 2008 global financial crisis, there was frequent discussion of Asia having decoupled from economic shock transmission originating in Europe or North America. Much of the basis for these arguments was related to the rapid expansion of intraregional trade in Asia. This paper...

International trade has played an essential role in Asia's remarkable growth, development, and integration in recent decades. Infrastructure, both hard and soft, has played an integral part in facilitating that trade, primarily through reducing the associated transaction costs. Regional...

This paper examines several aspects of the rehabilitation and reconstruction program that followed the 2004 tsunami in Asia. Almost 230,000 people died in the disaster. We focus on two main issues: aid delivery and reconstruction policy following the disaster. Although issues such as immediate...

Infrastructure services, from both hard and soft infrastructure, play a vital role in facilitating Asia's export-led growth by keeping the prices of delivered goods in export markets competitive. Efficient infrastructure services lower transaction costs, raise value added, and increase potential...

As trade is an important driver of growth and infrastructure is a necessity for trade, infrastructure development has a key role to play in economic development. This study aims to quantify the potential benefits of the development of the economic transport corridors, along with the...

The member states of the European Union (EU) and the EU institutions have increasingly been using public-private partnerships (PPPs) to accelerate the development of (ambitious) trans-national infrastructure. This paper argues that in the EU (i) private sector partners remain risk-averse; and...

There is an urgent need to mainstream the key challenges of climate change into sector and development planning and decision making processes to create sustainable long-term development. Mainstreaming is seen as making more efficient and effective use of financial and human resources. It is...