Feature Archive 2004

Interested in e-learning and e-government? Unable to participate in our courses? ADBI has produced CD-ROMs of the sessions, which include video clips and presentations. View titles and order information..

Our latest monograph, in collaboration with international competitiveness authority Sanjaya Lall, examines Pakistan's competitiveness and considers various indicators of competitive strength. It then 'benchmarks' Pakistan's position against other countries to provide a detailed case study of international competitiveness.

Infrastructure bottlenecks remain a critical constraint to growth and poverty reduction efforts in many developing countries. Our 2005 annual conference explores the links between poverty reduction, private sector development, and the infrastructure sector. Many papers are now online.

Have microfinance programs met the expectation that they can simultaneously achieve outreach, impact, and financial sustainability?

There is widespread concern in many parts of Asia and Latin America that rising foreign investment to the PRC is at the expense of investment and jobs in these economies. How accurate is this popular view? Read our latest discussion paper.

An important part of moves toward closer regional integration are cross-border infrastructure schemes that involve neighboring countries. This paper assesses current thinking from the economics literature on the potential benefits from these projects, especially transport projects. Case studies from the Mekong and Central Asian regions are included. Read our latest discussion paper.

E-government has the potential to improve efficiency and transparency in the public sector, and to enhance the quality of life through more inclusive public services for all. Read the report from this workshop, organized to prepare developing countries to take up this challenge.

How have Latin American exporters been affected by the rapid increase in the PRC's exports to the USA and other large markets? Are PRC and Latin American exports complementary or competitive with each other? Answers are in our latest discussion paper.

Over its 25-year transition from a centrally-planned economy to a more market-oriented economy, a number of private enterprises have emerged and are now playing a critical role for the Chinese economy.

Read our latest book on the historical and current development of the private sector in the PRC.

Afghanistan's nation building has come a long way to the historic direct presidential election earlier this month. The election is already seen as having reinforced the legitimacy of the Afghan government and should solidify continued support from the international donor community.

Read the update on Afghanistan's economic prospects.

The challenges facing the war-ravaged economy of Afghanistan are enormous. Infrastructure needs to be rebuilt, market regulations need to be re-established, and the basic institutional framework of a modern economy need to be created.

This study is one of the few serious attempts to piece together the current state of the economy and to chart the challenges ahead.

Do you write about key development issues? If so, let us know. We want to hear from journalists across the Asia-Pacific region.

Expand your audience. Gain recognition. Enter our Developing Asia Journalism Awards today.

The social sector in many developing countries is not keeping pace with what is needed to promote growth. With government resources dwindling, new ideas and strategies are urgently needed. This book discusses such a partnership between the private and public sectors.

Microfinance institutions are often viewed as a clearly effective way of improving life for the poor. However, several studies have raised doubts about their effectiveness in reaching the 'core poor'.

This paper surveys the evidence from recent studies on microfinance institutions in Asia, looking at impact and cost-effectiveness issues.

How has the recent dramatic growth of PRC's exports affected its neighbors? Have they lost export markets and seen foreign investment diverted to PRC? This paper surveys the evidence generated by recent ADBI research. Read more.

In developing Asia, relationship banking -- a close, long-term relationship with major clients -- could help banks better monitor their corporate clients and play a governance role for them. This paper explores the main constraints to healthy relationship banking. Read more.

The authors argue that the deficiency of effective corporate governance of banks has caused inefficient management of banks in Japan for at least the past two decades. Read more.

How can we assess the impact of various liberalization policies on poverty reduction in developing Asia? To answer this question, our latest discussion paper recommends the use of a new type of model for poverty analysis.

'Governance' is a big topic within the global development industry. Both the overall governance of nations, and the governance arrangements within key industries are vitally important. Peter McCawley suggests that weak "political markets" within many developing countries may be one main problem.

Do the poor really benefit from poverty funds? How does this vary between Asian countries? This paper surveys the problems poverty projects have faced and draws lessons from the experiences.

Is foreign direct investment in the PRC a real threat to other Southeast Asian nations? This study, estimating the extent to which domestic funds are reinvested as round tripping foreign investment, sheds completely new light on the 'PRC threat' story.

Uzbekistan has made poverty reduction one of its key objectives to sustainable development. The task is enormous. Where to begin? The search for the answer is at the core of this CD-ROM, which takes off from a training course for Uzbekistan government officials in the development of the framework and agenda for action of their living standard or poverty reduction strategy.

India has a long history of schemes aimed at channeling resources to the poor. How effective have they been?