This paper considers the sources of employment demand in Asian economies. Using data from the World–Input Output Database, I examine the relative importance of domestic and foreign demand in generating employment. Despite some degree of heterogeneity across the sample, domestic demand is found...

Using Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, after making appropriate adjustments, we estimate that employment in India’s unorganized or informal manufacturing fell by 2.5 to 7.5 per cent in 2020-21, reflecting the impact of COVID-19. In the previous eight years, the average rate of fall in...

Regional economic integration through logistics, information network and connectivity improvement can increase the 'virtual size' of an economy as trade with neighboring countries increases. This leads to substantial benefits from scale, network, coordination and agglomeration economies. As is...