Regional Investment Pioneers in South Asia

Regional Investment Pioneers in South Asia

Author: Sanjay Kathuria

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2021-12-14

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1464815356

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Regional economic engagement within South Asia may gain increasing importance owing to several factors that are currently in play, including strategies to diversify global value chains and locate such value chains nearer home. These developments offer South Asia a chance to enhance its low levels of regional economic engagement and capitalize on significant unrealized development opportunities. This report shows that examining intraregional investment and knowledge connectivity enhances our understanding of the low levels of intraregional trade and limited regional value chains in South Asia. Creating a new and unique data set for South Asian investment, it provides a detailed and nuanced understanding of the drivers of outward investment, both regional and global, for South Asian firms. “Regional Investment Pioneers in South Asia†? provides key considerations for policy makers in South Asia, which remain particularly relevant in the aftermath of the pandemic. First, it makes a case for regulatory relaxation of outward FDI regimes, based on new micro foundations, grounded in value chains. Second, it spells out details of smart inward FDI promotion techniques and investment facilitation. Third, it identifies distinct cross-border information-enhancing and network development activities. Fourth, it suggests that digital connectivity and continued interventions in reducing trade costs are warranted to increase investment as well as trade flows. There is particular scope to build on the digitalization initiatives in trade and investment facilitation taken during the pandemic. “Regional Investment Pioneers in South Asia†? follows on, and is complementary to, the earlier World Bank report, “A Glass Half Full: the Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia.†?


Investment Pioneers in South Asia

Investment Pioneers in South Asia

Author: Sanjay Kathuria

Publisher: South Asia Development Forum

Published: 2020-12

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 9781464815348

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This report is framed within the same context as its predecessor, ?A Glass Half Full: The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia," namely, the sub-optimal level of economic engagement within South Asia. It focuses on intraregional investment, from an outward investment lens, using a unifying framework of international engagement strategies.


South Asia Economic Focus

South Asia Economic Focus

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2022-10-06

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1464819203

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South Asia is facing renewed challenges. The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on food and energy prices on domestic inflation is long-lasting. Externally, countries’ current account balances deteriorate rapidly as imports rise on the back of economic recovery and rising inflation, remittances decline, and foreign capital flows out following monetary tightening in advanced economies. An economic slowdown in advanced economies and trading partners can also be a drag to the exports sector and remittances inflows, which many countries in the region depend on. These immediate challenges can translate to persistent deterrent to long-term growth and development. Higher energy prices already are changing the attitude of many countries outside the region about green transition and carbon reduction. The South Asia region is thus at a critical juncture. The theme chapter provides a deep dive into COVID-19 and migration. Migrant workers and remittances flows are important for South Asia as sources of income and means to smooth local income shocks for households, and as an important source of foreign reserves for the country. The pandemic changed the flows of migration, as some migrants had to return home and some had to stay in foreign countries due to COVID-related restrictions. The chapter studies the long-run trend of migration in the region, how COVID-19 impacted migration and remittance inflows, whether migration has (or has not) recovered, and proposes policies to address underlying problems.


Engendering Access to STEM Education and Careers in South Asia

Engendering Access to STEM Education and Careers in South Asia

Author: Shobhana Sosale

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2023-06-30

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 146481967X

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Building a skilled and diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce is crucial for economic development, cross-border trade, and social inclusion in South Asia. However, underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM education and careers remains a persistent issue. What kinds of macro and micro socioeconomic interventions are needed to increase girls' and women's access to and participation in STEM education and careers in South Asia? This book compares trends in South Asia with global trends to examine how access to and choices of STEM fields affect girls' enrollment in upper secondary education, technical and vocational education and training, and higher education in the region as well as their selection of careers. Based on the analysis, it offers recommendations to policy makers and practitioners to improve inclusion. The following are among the findings: (1) The five key opportunities to foster inclusion and enrollment in STEM education--and staunch the 'leaky pipeline'--are at the upper primary, lower and upper secondary, and tertiary education levels, and during the early career years; (2) A strong pathway from STEM education to career depends on an integrated, systematic approach that motivates students to pursue STEM fields, builds STEM skills, and removes barriers to diversity; (3) With the increasing migration of workers between countries in South Asia, preparing a critical mass of semiskilled and skilled STEM migrant workers has cross-border value, especially for workers migrating from smaller to larger economies. New ways of defining STEM occupations are required to help develop and sustain female interest in STEM education and careers. Potential strategies that governments can pursue include raising awareness and building knowledge and skills in STEM outside the formal academic environment--such as in after-school programs, science fairs and competitions, and summer camps--and developing and systematically disseminating standardized resources. Inclusion and diversity must be championed by governments, the private sector, and other stakeholders who stand to benefit from more diverse workforces. Though women themselves would likely be credible champions, in South Asia they are often constrained by a range of factors. This report addresses some of those obstacles.


An Investment Perspective on Global Value Chains

An Investment Perspective on Global Value Chains

Author: Christine Zhenwei Qiang

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2021-06-15

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1464816840

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This report investigates the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in helping developing countries participate in global value chains (GVCs). It combines the perspectives and strategies from three types of players: multinational corporations, domestic firms and governments. It aims to provide practical guidance for developing countries to develop strategies that use FDI to strengthen GVC participation and upgrading. The report has six main chapters: 1. FDI and GVCs. Assesses the trade-investment nexus and analyzes the effect of FDI in countries’ GVC participation and upgrading at the country level. 2. MNCs shape GVC development. Highlights MNCs' contribution to global economy and how their business strategies shape the evolution of GVCs. The chapter also compares MNCs' business strategies in terms of outsourcing and offshoring, risk mitigation and increasing market power across GVC archetypes. 3. Domestic firm perspectives on GVC participation. Looks at the various paths domestic firms can take to internationalize their production and trade. Investigates domestic firm characteristics that predict higher GVC participation, and the effect of GVC participation on firm performance. 4. Investment policy and promotion: what is in a government’s toolbox? Summarizes the various policy instruments governments have at their disposal to help attract MNCs to their country and facilitate GVC participation of domestic firms. 5. Integrating countries into GVCs. Draws on a range of case studies to illustrate how governments can develop coherent strategies and policy packages to integrate their countries into GVCs. 6. FDI and GVCs in the wake of COVID-19. Reflects the impact of COVID-19 on FDI and GVCs, the response from multinationals and suppliers, and the implications for GVC reconfiguration. In addition, there are seven case studies that offer more nuanced analysis on the GVC participation in selected countries and sectors: • Five qualitative case studies: Five countries have been selected that managed to use FDI to stimulate GVC participation using a range of approaches. By design, these five countries also cover five different GVC archetypes. These countries are: (1) Kenya (horticulture); (2) Dominican Republic (textiles); (3) Mauritius (tourism); (4) Malaysia (electronics); (5) China (software). • Two quantitative case studies: Rwanda, West-Bengal (India). These use a combination of firm- and transaction level datasets to study firm-level dynamics that explain the role of multinational and domestic firms across GVCs.


Africa's Development Dynamics 2023 Investing in Sustainable Development

Africa's Development Dynamics 2023 Investing in Sustainable Development

Author: African Union Commission

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2023-07-07

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 9264417591

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Africa’s Development Dynamics uses lessons from Central, East, North, Southern and West Africa to develop policy recommendations and share good practices across the continent. Drawing on the most recent statistics, the analysis of development dynamics aims to assist African leaders in reaching the targets of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 at all levels: continental, regional, national and local.


Falling Long-Term Growth Prospects

Falling Long-Term Growth Prospects

Author: M. Ayhan Kose

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2024-03-06

Total Pages: 703

ISBN-13: 1464820015

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A structural growth slowdown is under way across the world: at current trends, the global rate of potential growth is expected to fall to a three-decade low over the remainder of the 2020s. Nearly all the forces that have powered growth and prosperity since the early 1990s have weakened. In addition, a series of shocks has affected the global economy over the past three years. A persistent and broad-based decline in long-term growth prospects imperils the ability of emerging market and developing economies to combat poverty, tackle climate change, and meet other key development objectives. The challenges presented by this potential inability call for an ambitious policy response at the national and global levels. This book presents the first detailed analysis of the growth slowdown and a rich menu of policy options to deliver better growth outcomes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This book presents a sobering analysis of the secular growth slowdown based on the most comprehensive database of potential growth estimates available to date. With nearly all the forces that have driven growth and prosperity in recent decades now weakened, the book argues that a prolonged period of weakness is under way, with serious implications for emerging market and developing economies. The authors call for bold policy actions at both the national and global levels to lift growth prospects. The book is essential reading for policy makers, economists, and anyone concerned about the future of the global economy. Beatrice Weder di Mauro Professor of International Economics, Geneva Graduate Institute, and President of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) Economic policy making is becoming increasingly complicated in the 2020s. In addition to tackling traditional trade-offs in aggregate demand management and improving efficiency on the supply side, policy makers need to address new priorities and challenges, from addressing climate change and its impacts to improving income distribution, all in the context of lower growth rates, waning productivity growth, and flattening of the globalization process that has brought unprecedented prosperity across the globe and lifted more than a billion people out of poverty. In Falling Long-Term Growth Prospects, the authors do a phenomenal job of assessing these trends at the global and regional levels, identifying and unpacking salient twenty-first-century policy challenges, and providing thoughtful and evidence-based policy prescriptions for leaders in advanced, emerging market, and developing economies. Importantly, the book underscores that these challenges tend to be global and, hence, global cooperation at all levels is necessary to achieve optimal results. Alas, we seem to be going in the opposite direction; this book offers a road map to put us back on the path to creating a more integrated, prosperous, and equitable global community. Michael G. Plummer Director, SAIS Europe and ENI Professor of International Economics, The Johns Hopkins University


Diplomacy in Taiwan

Diplomacy in Taiwan

Author: Booker C.K. Liaw

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2022-01-25

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1527578852

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This book determines what roles business people in Taiwan have actually played in the development of economic diplomacy for Taiwan. It shows that they did nothing to prevent the crisis of 1995–1996, and that it was only when the US intervened that the crisis subsided. The book looks at the impact of the international system on the economic diplomacy of Taiwan, and represents a major contribution to the field of international relations by explicating a three-level analysis of the external relations of Taiwan. Using a bottom-up approach, it explains the activities of business people in Taiwan and clarifies their influence beyond Taiwan. The book argues that such activities have significant economic impacts and that their influence cannot be ignored.


The Family in the New Millennium

The Family in the New Millennium

Author: Thomas B. Holman

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2006-12-30

Total Pages: 1345

ISBN-13: 031308470X

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A remarkable team of contributors based across 19 countries explores and explains events worldwide affecting the natural family—married father and mother with biological children —detailing concepts and benefits of natural family that have been taken for granted across centuries, but are now being challenged in many ways. These scholars—many admittedly taking stands that may be deemed politically incorrect—conclude that natural family is being threatened, and is vital to provide common ground among all societies, cultures and religious traditions. Psychologists, sociologists, economists, theologians, lawyers, health care professionals and award-winning journalists are among the chapter authors, as are Nobel Prize Laureate Gary Becker, U.S. Department of Health Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Wade Horn, and former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Bin Mohamad. Whether or not you agree with their arguments, science and conclusions, you'll want to know what these influential figures are saying. Addressing many lightning-rod issues, from divorce and abortion to euthanasia and same-sex marriage, writers here span the world from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to Australia, Turkey, India, and China. Intellectuals included are associated with institutions from Brigham Young University, Georgetown School of Medicine and the Boston College School of Law, to the University of Geneva, and the Maxim Institute in New Zealand.


Developing China: The Remarkable Impact of Foreign Direct Investment

Developing China: The Remarkable Impact of Foreign Direct Investment

Author: Michael J. Enright

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-09-12

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1315393336

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The importance of foreign investment to China goes well beyond the USD 1.6 trillion in investment received since its opening. The unique analysis in this book shows that the investments, operations, and supply chains of foreign enterprises have accounted for roughly one-third of China’s GDP in recent years, and that foreign enterprises have made numerous additional contributions to China through technological, managerial, business practice, supply chain, and other spillovers. This book shows how China’s leaders managed this process and provides lessons for policy makers interested in building their own economies and tools for companies to demonstrate their contribution to host countries.