The Pacific Islands face the highest disaster risk, in per capita terms, globally. Examples of catastrophic events in the region include the 2009 tsunami in Samoa, the 2014 floods in the Solomon Islands, and the 2015 cyclone Pam in Vanuatu. Even without these catastrophic events, countries in...

This paper investigates the role of “absorptive capacity” to manage unexpected shocks to their real economy, with a focus on small, open, natural resource-dependent economies. A quarterly panel data series for 45 countries is constructed, including 23 developing Asian countries for empirical...

"This study examines the role of infrastructure development and technical change in explaining increases in agricultural production and changes in land use in the Mekong Delta Region of Viet Nam during the mid-1990s. The study relies on econometric analysis of household-level longitudinal farm...