The extent and seriousness of poverty vary markedly across Asian developing countries, and so does the rate at which poverty has changed over time. In addition, there are large intercountry differences in the extent to which social services, especially health and education, reach the poor. There...

The paper looks into the effects of international migration and remittances on household incomes and well-being, poverty reduction, human capital investment, saving, and regional development in the home country. Remittances appear to raise average incomes for all income groups but more so for...

Taking off from the self-evident fact that the population variable centrally figures in both labor and product markets, this paper argues that the growth rate of population, its age structure and spatial distribution should be key considerations in a country’s development strategy to promote...

"Indonesia has an impressive record of economic growth and poverty reduction over the past two decades. The growth-poverty nexus appears strong at the aggregate level. Newly constructed panel data on the country's 285 districts (kotamadyas/kabupatens), however, reveal huge differences in poverty...

Viet Nam's dramatic transition and growth in the 1990s have been attributed to a series of reforms, known as doi moi, which began in the late 1980s. Economic growth at nearly 8 percent yearly appeared broad-based, thus benefiting the poor and reducing poverty from 61 percent in 1993 to 37...

This paper looks into whether and how sub-national regions can benefit from a country’s economic openness. Using data on the Philippines, it first notes marked disparities across its regions as reflected in economic and social indicators. The dominance of Metropolitan Manila in the national...

Following an earlier paper titled "Population and Poverty: The Real Score" (UPSE Discussion Paper 0415, December 2004), the present paper was first issued in August 2008 as a contribution to the public debate on the population issue that never seemed to die in this country. The debate heated up...