This paper identifies policy challenges to the skill formation process in Thailand. Specifically, we examine whether the foundation of current policies help foster skill acquisition and prepare our labor force well for heightened competition in the 21st century. Human capital is a major source...

We model relationships within as well as between two economic regions—Thailand and the rest of the world—and quantify changes in the spillover relationship between international forces and key Thai macroeconomic variables after the adoption of inflation targeting (2000-2008). Within the same...

Sharp increase in house prices combined with the extraordinary lending growth in Mainland China during 2009 has led to concerns of an emerging real estate bubble. We find that, for China as a whole, the current levels of house prices do not seem significantly higher than would be justified by...

During the past decade, the average Chinese earns roughly 9 times less and is 10 times less productive than the average American at purchasing power parity. Current consensus attributes large differences in output per worker to differences in total factor productivity (TFP). Evidence suggests...

Hong Kong SAR was hit hard by the global financial crisis, which started out in the U.S. and spilled over to the rest of the world. Three years later, vulnerabilities in the euro area's financial system and concerns over a hard landing in Mainland China have started to weigh on Hong Kong's...

Real estate investment accounts for a quarter of total fixed asset investment (FAI) in China. The real estate sector’s extensive industrial and financial linkages make it a special type of economic activity, especially where the credit creation process relies primarily on collateral, like...

Hong Kong SAR was hit hard by the global financial crisis, which started out in the U.S. and spilled over to the rest of the world. Three years later, vulnerabilities in the euro area''s financial system and concerns over a hard landing in Mainland China have started to weigh on Hong Kong''s...

Assessing country risk is a core component of surveillance at the IMF. It is conducted through a comprehensive architecture, covering both bilateral and multilateral dimensions. This note describes some of the approaches used internally by Fund staff to examine a wide array of systemic risks...