Conference on Global Financial Crisis: Social Impacts

Background

Sustained economic growth can contribute significantly to poverty reduction. Indeed, countries that have enjoyed economic growth for long periods of time have witnessed marked declines in poverty incidence. But an economic and financial crisis could frustrate such development. Even though countries can recover quickly from the crisis, they may not return to the same growth path as before the crisis, thus delaying further the economic development process. Because a crisis can have long-term developmental implications, ADBI and ADB are keen in making a contribution to the understanding of the causes of a crisis and to the formulation of policy measures that ADB's developing member countries (DMCs) could adopt to mitigate the impact on those most vulnerable.

While the current financial crisis and global economic downturn did not originate in Asia, nonetheless, Asian economies and financial markets are feeling its impacts which are likely to deepen substantially over the coming year. The most obvious areas of impact have been exports and equity markets, which have declined sharply across the region, but stresses in currency and credit markets have emerged as well, and domestic demand has softened. This sensitivity has been heightened by the export-led growth strategies followed by many countries.

ADBI is planning a series of conferences related to the crisis, including identifying its likely impacts on Asian countries, developing scenarios for growth re-balancing away from exports, and developing recommendations related to macroeconomic policy, structural and institutional innovations, regional integration and financial reform. This conference will focus on issues related to the social economy impacts of the crisis, including impacts on sub-national regional economies, income distribution, poverty, employment, health, and education.

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Objectives

The objectives of the conference will be to review evidence and analysis of the social impacts of the global economic and financial crisis on Asian countries, with the aim of setting up a reference basis for subsequent conferences dealing with appropriate policy responses in the region. The main topics of this conference are:

• Impacts on need for social insurance;
• Impacts on effectiveness of existing policies; and
• Impacts on education and health.

The studies will also support the ASEAN Summit to be held in November or December 2009 in Thailand.

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Outputs

Conference papers
ADBI Research Policy Brief
ADBI Working Papers

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Participants

The conference will bring together about 180 participants from the region and development partners. Most participants will be high-level policymakers and officials involved in poverty reduction for the Asia-Pacific region. About 50% of them will come from ASEAN+ countries in East and Southeast Asia, 30% from South Asia, Central Asia and the Pacific, and 20% are sector and thematic experts and senior management from partner development institutions.

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Partners

Asian Development Bank headquarters and Viet Nam Resident Mission