There are considerable variations in the philosophy, coverage, investment policies and performance, design of schemes, governance structures, degree of professionalism and adequacy of benefits among Asian countries. The pensions sector requires strong government regulation. For most Asian...

This article analyses the importance of international commercial service transactions relating to both trade and investment, which form an essential element of analyzing production fragmentation and economic integration in Asia. Following an aggregative analysis the authors discusses data...

This paper accepts Rodrik’s premise that globalization and associated changes have increased the urgency of developing social safety nets to: Cushion transition; Help maintain legitimacy of reform, and help avoid backlash against reforms. India’s calibrated globalization thus...

The September 2007 annual summit of APEC to be hosted by Australia will witness the ending of the decade long moratorium on membership. A major anomaly of the APEC is that while the three largest economies in the world in terms of PPP GDP are members (US, China and Japan), the fourth largest...

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) will be an integral and significant part of global financial and capital markets even in the medium term. It is important for India to put in place domestic safeguards against the investments by the SWF in order to retain technological and policy autonomy, and...

Financial and economic literacy is essential for understanding forces that are driving social change in India, and globally. It is also an essential contributing factor in determining employability and in designing and delivering public services. India needs to establish widely accessible...

As India continues to pursue calibrated globalisation and expand external linkages, this is an opportune time to develop robust economic partnership with Taiwan, an economy with a GDP of over US$300billion and a per capita income of US $14,000.

A regulator should promote social entrepreneurship and tap into the considerable expertise existing in the micro-finance sector. The aim should be to lower transaction costs and generate savings in real resource costs to the economy in delivering micro-finance services in a sustainable manner....

Malaysia's vulnerabilities are exacerbated by itsinexplicable reluctance to pursue inclusive economic diplomacy as exemplified by its reported opposition to include even India in the first “East Asia†summit it is hosting in December last. There are considerable complementarities...

Singapore’s 2007 budget reaffirms government’s determination to continue with the current globalization strategy of high growth, high net in-migration and minimal social risk pooling in financing old age, and healthcare.[ For Budget Speech and highlights, see under Singapore...