This paper reviews the literature on the impact of ethnic diversity on economic development. Ethnically polarized societies are less likely to agree on the provision of public goods and more likely to engage in rent seeking activities providing lower levels of social capital. Initial conditions...

This paper investigates the effect of social capital between irrigation canal head-enders and tail-enders on their water allocation problem. Although social capital is considered to be an instrument for common pool resource management, a consensus has not been reached on its effect among...

Using the district-level data, we found that even in a relatively poor country like Kenya, ethnic diversity is associated with better economic outcomes at local level. However, we found that income spillovers depend on ethnic similarity. This suggests the influence of ethnic bias through which...

This paper argues that the continuing failure of environmental governance by the state lies not only in inappropriate actions taken by the responsible agencies, but also in the way bureaucratic structures have evolved to limit their policy choices. Whether effective or not, the state continues...

Set against the backdrop of increasing economic interdependence in East Asia, the idea of “regional integration” is now being discussed as a long-term political process in the region. As in the field of the international economy, de facto integration and interdependence exist with respect to...

India has experienced rapid economic growth, especially since the full scale economic liberalization of the early 1990s. The emphasis in this paper, however, is the critical importance of the preceding decade, when the Indian agriculture sector was registering a high growth rate. India attained...

This paper discusses policy issues pertaining to infrastructure development in low income countries (LICs) in Asia. Infrastructure challenges in Asian LICs have not been adequately highlighted to date mainly because the international focus has often been on African LICs and because large...

This paper examines institutional governance for a cross-border higher education program, focusing on the effects of introducing a new form of program. The paper analyzes the case of the Higher Education Loan Fund Project between Malaysia and Japan, in which the form of cross-border higher...

This paper explores the capacities for sustained growth in the export-oriented countries of Southeast Asia, with a focus on Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. The paper is especially concerned with the prospects for "upgrading" and moving beyond the "middle-income trap" in Malaysia and Thailand....

Industrialization is the key for sustainable economic growth in Africa. The role of industrial policy has been discussed intensively recently. This paper sheds light on the learning (or learning how to learn) aspect of industrialization policy, proposing a comprehensive approach. A great deal of...