Over the past two decades China's growth has been rapid, social indicators have improved, and poverty levels have inched downward. However, widening inequality, increasing resource and financial imbalances, and growing environmental concerns provide China with daunting challenges in improving...

Can clusters be made to order? By Shahid Yusuf. Lessons from the development of silicon valley and its entrepreneurial support network for Japan by Martin Kenney. The emergence of Hsinchu science park as an IT cluster by Tain-Jy Chen. Coping with globalization of production networks and digital...

The focus of this volume is on China and India. The authors see them as the principal beneficiaries of the first upheaval, roughly bookended by the crises of 1997-98 and of 2008-09, and as being among the prime movers whose economic footprints will expand most rapidly in the coming decades. If...

In broad terms, the sources of economic growth are well understood, but relatively few countries have succeeded in effectively harnessing this knowledge for policy purposes so as to sustain high rates of growth over an extended period of time. Among the ones that have done so, China stands out....

This paper explores various strategic options available to Japanese firms faced with the increasing market pressures in the global economy. Whether Japanese firms are able to retain the competitive edge will depend on the continuing gains in their manufacturing capability, their capacity to...

How can Penang upgrade and diversify its economy? This paper addresses this question using a number of methodologies that have been developed for assessing competitiveness and identifying the direction of future industrial evolution. The results show that although Penang was successful in...

China is increasing its outlay on research and development and seeking to build an innovation system that will deliver quick results not just in absorbing technology but also in pushing the technological envelope. China's spending on R&D rose from 1.1 percent of GDP in 2000 to 1.3 percent of GDP...

The benefits of good health to individuals and to society are strongly positive and improving the health of the poor is a key Millennium Development Goal. A typical health strategy advocated by some is increased public spending on health targeted to favor the poor and backed by foreign...

Este ambicioso libro se origino en un simposio llevado a cabo en Paris en marzo de 2006, promovido por el World Bank's Development Economics Department, y su proposito principal es examinar los distintos papeles que juegan las universidades en el contexto general de los sistemas nacionales de...

Countries worldwide are struggling to imitate the industrial prowess of the East Asian pacesetters, but growth accelerations have proven remarkably transient. Building a portfolio of tradable goods and services and steadily raising the level of investment in these activities, has generally...