Infrastructure Strategies In East Asia

Case studies, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, East Asia.

Co-produced by the Asian Development Bank, the Japan Bank for International Co-operation and the World Bank, this publication examines the challenges of infrastructure development facing the countries of East Asia, driven by their rapid economic growth and urbanisation. The report is organised around three main themes: inclusive development; co-ordination of infrastructure levels; accountability and risk management; and includes includes case studies of regional good practice.

Abstract: This paper examines whether infrastructure investment has contributed to East Asia's economic growth using both a growth accounting framework and cross-country regressions. For most of the variables used, both the growth accounting exercise and cross-country regressions fail to find a significant link between infrastructure, productivity and growth. These conclusions contrast strongly with previous studies finding positive and significant effect for all infrastructure variables in the context of a production function study. This leads us to conclude that results from studies using macro-level data should be considered with extreme caution. The Authors suggest that infrastructure investment may have had the primary function of relieving constraints and bottlenecks as they arose, as opposed to directly encouraging growth.

This book analyses how closer regional connectivity and economic integration between South Asia and Southeast Asia can benefit both regions. With a focus on the role played by infrastructure and public policies in facilitating this process, it provides a detailed and up-to-date discussion of issues, innovations, and progress. Country studies of national connectivity issues and policies cover Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, examining major developments in trade and investment, economic cooperation, the role of economic corridors, and regional cooperation initiatives. Thematic chapters explore investment in land and sea transport infrastructure, trade facilitation, infrastructure investment financing, supporting national and regional policies, and model-based estimates of the benefits of integration. They also identify significant opportunities for strengthening these integration efforts as a result of the recent opening up of Myanmar in political, economic, and financial terms. For the first time for these regions, the book employs a state-of-the-art computable general equilibrium (CGE) model incorporating heterogeneous firms to estimate the advantages of integration.Providing perspective on the latest thinking on integration policy, Connecting Asia is an essential resource for academics, policymakers, and business people alike.

This report analyzes the impact of the financial crisis on investment trends and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of private participation in infrastructure (PPI) in six East Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Systematic reform, participation, Malyasia, Chile, environment, India.

A fresh insight on the unequal impact of development policies in East Asia and Latin America. Written by economists and political scientists from Brazil, Chile, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and the US, chapters share a political economy perspective and are the result of collaborative work coordinated by researchers at the University of Tsukuba (Japan). In addition to chapters on particular countries and on broad subjects, there are three chapters presenting detailed comparisons of pairs of countries (Brazil and Korea, Indonesia and Mexico, Chile and Malaysia).