The similarities yet differences across South Asian countries, and their differential response to recent food and oil price shocks, gives a useful opportunity to better understand the structure of inflation in these economies. Analysis of the internal and external balance and evidence on demand...

Global macroeconomic imbalances are among the key issues facing policymakers, especially in the US and China which are the two major affected / contributing parties. While there has been a great deal of discussion and disagreement on this important issue, what all sides have in common is the...

We review the literature on the relationship between agricultural trade policy reform and poverty, and the results of recent detailed simulation studies applied to economies in the ESCAP region. We then use the GTAP model to evaluate the possible impacts of the most recently proposed modality...

Since 1990, the Human Development Index has revolutionized discussions about human development. However, it suffers from two deficiencies, which can now be mitigated: geographic incompleteness and insufficiently “on-target” representation of economy, knowledge, and “a long and healthy...

Recently launched ESCAP’s Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2013 argues for a shift in macroeconomic policy paradigm. Historically, macroeconomic policies have both stabilization and development roles. Since the 1980s the focus of macroeconomic policies shifted to...

Since countries have continued to liberalize trade both unilaterally and as part of the implementation of preferential trade agreements during the past decade, import tariff costs now often account for a very small share of the overall trade costs faced by traders in Asia and the Pacific –...

this chapter provides recommendations on arriving at a meaningful multilateral agreement on trade facilitation.

this chapter provides a comparative analysis of the broader trade facilitation needs of Fiji and a selection of Asian developing countries.