2019 Highlights


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December, 2019

	From ‘Rebalance to Asia’ to ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’: The Development of the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, November 2019. Under the Obama administration’s Rebalance to Asia, Vietnam gradually gained importance in U.S. foreign policy as the two countries formed a “comprehensive partnership” in 2013. Despite the Trump administration’s America First policy, the United States prioritizes its partnerships with Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries in its Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy. While a common concern about China’s behavior in the South China Sea has facilitated the growth of U.S.-Vietnam relations, the foundation of the relationship is cooperation on Vietnam War legacy issues. The two countries have made remarkable progress in advancing diplomatic, economic, and defense ties regardless of remaining challenges. The year 2020 would be ideal for the United States and Vietnam to upgrade the relationship to a “strategic partnership”: it marks the 25th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral relations, Hanoi’s ASEAN chairmanship, and the start of Vietnam’s term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council...	EWC
	Domestic Politics Force India’s Withdrawal from RCEP and Broader Trade Disengagement, November 2019. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations concluded at the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok on November 4, 2019. Fifteen RCEP members, including the ten-ASEAN countries, and Australia, China, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, agreed to commence preparation of the legal text of the agreement for signing in 2020. India was the only member to opt out, citing significant unresolved outstanding issues. India’s decision was surprising as it actively participated in the negotiations that lasted for 29 rounds and went on for more than six years since beginning in 2013. Domestic pressures forced Prime Minister Modi to withdraw India from RCEP at the last minute. It also points to disengagement becoming the prominent character of India’s trade policy as domestic protectionist interests successfully undermine outward-oriented economic visions...	EWC
	Foreign and Security Policy in the New Malaysia, November 2019. Malaysia’s historic change of government in May 2018 returned former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad to office supported by an eclectic coalition of parties and interests under the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) banner. This raised questions about how the self-declared Malaysia Baharu (New Malaysia) would engage with the rest of the world. After the election, it was generally assumed that Malaysia’s foreign policy would largely stay the course, with some minor adjustments. This trajectory was confirmed with the September 2019 release of the Foreign Policy Framework of the New Malaysia: Change in Continuity, the country’s first major foreign policy restatement under the new government. Analysis of the Framework and other signals from Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan government confirms that while there may be some course-corrections in Malaysia’s foreign and security policy, it will not stray far from the approach of previous administrations...	Lowy
	Indo-Pacific Immune Systems to Enable Healthy Engagement with the Chinese State and China's Economy, November 2019. This paper sets out three challenges to the creation of a future for Indo-Pacific states and peoples consistent with the visions of a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP) expressed by Japan, India, the US and Australia, and now by the ASEAN outlook on the Indo-Pacific. It also describes a path for states to operate in an environment of coercive Chinese state power that seeks to influence how states relate and how they operate within their domestic boundaries.	ASPI
	The China Defence Universities Tracker 2019. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is building links between China’s civilian universities, military and security agencies. Those efforts, carried out under a policy of leveraging the civilian sector to maximise military power (known as ‘military–civil fusion’), have accelerated in the past decade. Research for the China Defence Universities Tracker has determined that greater numbers of Chinese universities are engaged in defence research, training defence scientists, collaborating with the military and cooperating with defence industry conglomerates and are involved in classified research...	ASPI
	A New Sino-Russian High-Tech Partnership, 2019. Sino-Russian relations have been adapting to an era of great-power rivalry. This complex relationship, categorised as a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era’, has continued to evolve as global strategic competition has intensified. China and Russia have not only expanded military cooperation but are also undertaking more extensive technological cooperation, including in fifth-generation telecommunications, artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology and the digital economy. When Russia and China commemorated the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China in October 2019, the celebrations highlighted the history of this ‘friendship’ and a positive agenda for contemporary partnership that is pursuing bilateral security, ‘the spirit of innovation’, and ‘cooperation in all areas’...	ASPI
	Engineering Global Consent: The Chinese Communist Party's Data-Driven Power Expansion, 2019. The Chinese party-state engages in data collection on a massive scale as a means of generating information to enhance state security—and, crucially, the political security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—across multiple domains. The party-state intends to shape, manage and control its global operating environment so that public sentiment is favourable to its own interests. The party’s interests are prioritised over simply the Chinese state’s interests or simply the Chinese people’s interests. The effort requires continuous expansion of the party’s power overseas because, according to its own articulation of its threat perceptions, external risks to its power are just as likely—if not more likely—to emerge from outside the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) borders as from within...	ASPI
	Nuclear Strategy in a Changing World, 2019. The immense destructive power of nuclear weapons continues to shape the international strategic balance, not least Australia’s place as a close ally of the United States in an increasingly risky Indo-Pacific region. What is the continuing utility to America’s allies of extended nuclear deterrence? Where is the risk of nuclear proliferation greatest? How should the world deal with the growing nuclear capabilities of North Korea? Is the nuclear order as sturdy and stable and it needs to be?...	ASPI
	MAS Financial Stability Review, November 2019. Risks to global financial stability have risen against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. First, the global economy is still experiencing a synchronised slowdown and the outlook is characterised by continuing uncertainty reflecting ongoing trade and geopolitical tensions. Second, many major economies have faced persistently low or negative interest rates, with financial conditions expected to remain accommodative. This in turn has fuelled rising indebtedness, particularly among non-financial corporates. In light of weak revenue growth prospects, further downsides to the current challenging macro-environment could undermine the sustainability of such debt. Third, financial institutions (FIs) and investors have taken on higher risks to achieve their target returns. The result of such search for yield has been an increase in capital inflows into Emerging Market Economies (EMEs), raising the sensitivity of their domestic financing conditions to global shocks...	MAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #15: How Will Shifts in American Foreign Policy Affect Southeast Asia?. A new phase in US foreign policy, in which China is viewed as a major threat to American economic and security interests, has begun under the Trump administration. The strong anti-China sentiment is accompanied by efforts to “decouple” from China. If carried too far, they will alienate allies and friends whose cooperation the US will need in order to compete with China. In the broader American foreign policy community, there is an intense ongoing debate on how strong the push-back against China should be. Both moderates and hawks agree on the need for a “tougher” approach but differ on the degree and method of toughness. No coherent strategy has been possible partly because President Trump’s thinking does not always accord with that of his own administration and partly because it is still too early in the day to come out with well-thought-out policies to support such a major change in foreign policy direction...	ISEAS
	Faultlines in Singapore: Public Opinion on their Realities, Management & Consequences, October 2019. Amidst continued spotlight on social cohesion and divisions in Singapore, this Faultlines in Singapore (FiS) paper examines the views of the local population on the implications of mismanaging across five key issue-spheres including 1) race; 2) religion; 3) class; 4) immigration; and 5) LGBT. It subsequently peruses the views of the population on potential mitigating mechanisms including public discourse and state involvement...	IPS
	Survey on the Perceptions of Singapore's Built Heritage and Landmarks, August 2019. Discussions of heritage value often place emphasis on the visions of planners or designers, and historical experts’ assessments. However, the way that local users and the general public perceive and interact with heritage sites tends to be overlooked. The Study on the Perceptions of Singapore’s Built Heritage and Landmarks seeks to understand public opinion towards built heritage in Singapore, drawing on an opinion poll of 53 heritage sites. Around 1,500 respondents evaluated the sites in terms of four domains: knowledge, memories, physical appeal and perceived importance...	IPS
	IPS-OnePeople.Sg Indicators of Racial and Religious Harmony: Comparing Results from 2018 and 2013, July 2019. This paper provides an update of the state of racial and religious relations in Singapore using a series of indicators created by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and OnePeople.sg in 2013. A set of 10 indicators (such as the absence of minority discrimination in using public services; the presence of close inter-racial friendships, and levels of inter-racial and inter-religious social trust) were used to provide a comprehensive gauge on inter-racial and religious harmony in Singapore. The indicators were derived from a series of questions posed to respondents in the large-scale IPS Race, Religion and Language (RRL) Survey in 2013...	IPS
	International Journal of Korean Studies, Volume XXII, Number 2, 2018 The Role of Official News Releases of the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in the Success of the Korean Wave How K-pop Broke the West: An Analysis of Western Media Coverage from 2009 to 2019 Reversed Ethnography in the Reception of the Korean Wave The U.S. Adaptation of Korea’s Unscripted Format in the New Korean Wave Era: A Case Study of Grandpas Over Flowers Staging Hallyu: K-Pop and K-Drama Reimagined in Asian American Theater K-pop Fans'Reaction Videos and Their Implications for Korean Language Learning	IJKS
	Asia Bond Monitor, November 2019. Emerging East Asia’s local currency bond market reached $15.2 trillion at the end of September 2019 on growth of 3.1% quarter-on-quarter and 13.0% year-on-year. Most emerging East Asian currencies strengthened against the US dollar between 31 August and 15 October. The trade conflict between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the United States (US) remains the primary downside risk. An economic slowdown in advanced economies as well as in the PRC also poses a risk to emerging East Asia. However, the monetary policy easing of central banks in advanced economies is benefiting the region’s financial environment...	ADB
	Central Bank Digital Currency and Fintech in Asia, Published 2019. The development of financial technology has already radically altered the landscape of the financial system in Asia and promises to have an even greater impact in coming years. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the principles and developments regarding central bank digital currency and fintech. The first part of the book covers the theory of central bank digital currency, regulatory aspects, economic digitalization, and the role of fintech in advancing financial inclusion for small and medium-sized enterprises. In the second part, selected case studies offer an in-depth overview of recent fintech-related developments in major Asian economies, including Australia; the People’s Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; the Republic of Korea; and Thailand...	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Investigating Cost-Effective Policy Incentives for Renewable Energy in Japan: A Recursive CGE Approach for an Optimal Energy Mix, November 2019 State-Owned Enterprises and Cluster-Based Industrialization: Evidence from Bangladesh, November 2019 The Differential Effects of Technology and Trade on Female and Male Workers in India, November 2019 Project Inthanon and the Project DLT Scripless Bond, October 2019 The Digital Revolution in Asia and Its Macroeconomic Effects, October 2019 Fintech and Central Bank Digital Currency in Australia, October 2019 SME Finance in Asia: Recent Innovations in Fintech Credit, Trade Finance, and Beyond, October 2019 The Impacts of Energy Insecurity on Household Welfare in Cambodia: Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications, October 2019 Electric Vehicles and Energy Insecurity in ASEAN Countries: Renewable Energy Integration and Urban Air Quality, October 2019 Energy Security in Pakistan: A Quantitative Approach to a Sustainable Energy Policy, October 2019	ADB
	Other ADB Publications: Asian Economic Integration Report 2019/2020: Demographic Change, Productivity, and the Role of Technology, November 2019 Effective Approaches to Poverty Reduction: Selected Cases from the Asian Development Bank, November 2019 Training Facility Norms and Standard Equipment Lists: Volume 2 – Mechatronics Technology, November 2019 Together We Deliver: Grants for a Brighter Future, November 2019	ADB
	Latest APEC publications: APEC Framework for Securing the Digital Economy, November 2019 Facilitating Investment in APEC: Improving the Investment Climate through Good Governance, November 2019 Taking Forward the Lima Declaration on the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) – Study on Tariffs, November 2019 Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) on Advertising Standards in the Digital Economy, November 2019 Workshop on Trade and Investment Inter-dependencies in Global Value Chains (GVCs): Are Policy Frameworks for Trade and Investment, such as Trade and Investment Agreements keeping apace? November 2019 CTI Public – Private Dialogue (PPD) on Promoting Transparency through the Improvement of Information Submitted in the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Notifications, November 2019 Methodologies of Constructing the APEC TiVA Database for Better Understanding Global Value Chains in the APEC Region, November 2019 APEC Workshop on Public-Private Partnership for Solar Energy Development, November 2019 Strengthening Innovative Skills Training and Education for Increasing Workers' Inclusion in the Digital Age, November 2019 Workshop Report on Domestic Innovation Systems and Networks, November 2019 Trade and Human Resources Development: Capacity Building for Inclusive Trade, November 2019 APEC 2018 Report on Education and Economic Development, November 2019 Compendium of Best Practice Technology Solutions for Single Window Interoperability, November 2019 Peer Review and Capacity Building on APEC Infrastructure Development and Investment: Indonesia, October 2019 ISDS as an Instrument for Investment Promotion and Facilitation, October 2019	APEC


November, 2019

	Engineering Global Consent: The Chinese Communist Party's Data-Driven Power Expansion, November 2019. The Chinese party-state engages in data collection on a massive scale as a means of generating information to enhance state security—and, crucially, the political security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—across multiple domains. The party-state intends to shape, manage and control its global operating environment so that public sentiment is favourable to its own interests. The party’s interests are prioritised over simply the Chinese state’s interests or simply the Chinese people’s interests. The effort requires continuous expansion of the party’s power overseas because, according to its own articulation of its threat perceptions, external risks to its power are just as likely—if not more likely—to emerge from outside the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) borders as from within...	ASPI
	A New Sino-Russian High-Tech Partnership, November 2019. Sino-Russian relations have been adapting to an era of great-power rivalry. This complex relationship, categorised as a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era’, has continued to evolve as global strategic competition has intensified. China and Russia have not only expanded military cooperation but are also undertaking more extensive technological cooperation, including in fifth-generation telecommunications, artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology and the digital economy. When Russia and China commemorated the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China in October 2019, the celebrations highlighted the history of this ‘friendship’ and a positive agenda for contemporary partnership that is pursuing bilateral security, ‘the spirit of innovation’, and ‘cooperation in all areas’...	ASPI
	Nuclear Strategy in a Changing World, October 2019. The immense destructive power of nuclear weapons continues to shape the international strategic balance, not least Australia’s place as a close ally of the United States in an increasingly risky Indo-Pacific region. What is the continuing utility to America’s allies of extended nuclear deterrence? Where is the risk of nuclear proliferation greatest? How should the world deal with the growing nuclear capabilities of North Korea? Is the nuclear order as sturdy and stable and it needs to be?...	ASPI
	Ocean of Debt? Belt and Road and Debt Diplomacy in the Pacific, October 2019. China’s Belt and Road Initiative has raised important questions about the risk of debt problems in less-developed countries. The risks are especially acute for the small and fragile economies of the Pacific. Our analysis, however, finds a nuanced picture. The evidence to date suggests China has not been engaged in deliberate ‘debt trap’ diplomacy in the Pacific. Nonetheless, the sheer scale of China’s lending and its lack of strong institutional mechanisms to protect the debt sustainability of borrowing countries poses clear risks. Chinese lending is more intense as a share of GDP in smaller economies. If China wants to remain a major development financier in the Pacific without fulfilling the debt trap accusations of its critics, it will need to substantially restructure its approach, including by adopting formal lending rules similar to those of the multilateral development banks...	Lowy
	The Bougainville Referendum and Beyond, October 2019. Australia has a long history and a complicated relationship with Bougainville, an island group to the east of the PNG mainland that was administered by Australia as part of Papua New Guinea for 60 years between 1915 and 1975. On 23 November 2019, its 300 000 people will commence voting in an independence referendum, and a clear majority is expected to vote for independence from Papua New Guinea. The Bougainville Peace Agreement requires PNG and Bougainville to negotiate an outcome after the conclusion of the referendum, and Canberra has indicated that it will respect any settlement reached between them. James Marape, the new PNG prime minister, has expressed a clear preference for an autonomous, not independent, Bougainville...	Lowy
	US-Southeast Asia Trade is Increasing, but so are Deficits, October 2019. Conventional narratives are either supported by facts or overcome them. Recent increased trade flows between the US and the ten economies of Southeast Asia suggest that the predominant narrative of the commercial displacement of the United States by China in Southeast Asia is incorrect. However, the United States’s growing trade deficits and shrinking surpluses with Southeast Asia do bolster an American mercantilist narrative that bilateral deficits are an economic loss for the US caused by Southeast Asian governments’ unfair trade policies...	EWC
	A Vietnam Perspective on Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy, October 2019. In an effort to promote Taiwan’s engagement with Southeast Asia and other Southern countries in the Indo-Pacific, President Tsai Ing-wen declared the New Southbound Policy at the very beginning of her presidency. Vietnam, though not having official relations with Taiwan, appears to endorse the New Southbound Policy and Taipei’s positioning of Vietnam at the heart of the policy. Given that context, the implementation of the New Southbound Policy will have impacts on Vietnam’s overall relations with Taiwan. The “southbound policy,” originally coined as the “Go South” policy, is not a new concept designed by Tsai herself...	EWC
	Too little, too late for Myanmar in Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy? October 2019. Since the early 1990s, a vast bipartisan consensus among Taiwanese policymakers has looked at Southeast Asia as a credible countercheck to China’s growing leverage over the island. As a result, the idea of a ‘go south’ policy aimed at strengthening Taipei’s economic and political standing with ASEAN countries has made headlines both during the Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian presidencies, before being rebranded by the current Tsai Ing-wen government under the banner of the ‘New Southbound Policy’ (NSP) in 2016. In a nutshell, the strategy seeks to reinvigorate Taiwan’s links with its southern neighbors, whilst safeguarding both the special relationship with the United States and its extensive economic ties with the Chinese mainland. Taiwan-Myanmar relations have to be seen against this wider and deeper backdrop,..	EWC
	Progress and Limitations in Malaysia-Taiwan Relations under Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy, October 2019. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has made the New Southbound Policy (NSP) a main anchor of Taiwan’s foreign policy. The NSP is not entirely “new”: Both Presidents Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian pursued similar policies aimed at strengthening Taiwan’s economic exchanges with the region and improving its political and diplomatic positioning. In comparison, Tsai’s NSP, while continuing emphasis on economic exchanges, is notable for its greater focus on people-to-people exchanges, and at the same time its political or symbolic dimensions are more subtle or even deliberately downplayed. In general, Malaysia welcomes the NSP. Since 2016, there has been an acceleration of economic exchanges, intensification of people-to-people ties, and increased sub-national level interactions...	EWC
	India’s Act East and Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy are Win-Win, October 2019. Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) is a policy initiative introduced by president Tsai Ing-wen after she came to power as the president of Taiwan in May, 2016. The NSP aims to strengthen Taiwan’s relationship with eighteen primary target countries: 10 in the ASEAN region, six states in South Asia, and Australia and New Zealand. Though the NSP is not the first of its kind, Tsai Ing-wen’s vision is new and comprehensive in several aspects and has a broader goal and audience than previous initiatives...	EWC
	Monetary Authority of Singapore: Macroeconomic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 2, October 2019 (Full Report, Presentation Slides for Briefing): Monetary Policy Statement Chapter 1: The International Economy Chapter 2: The Singapore Economy Chapter 3: Labour Market and Inflation Chapter 4: Macroeconomic Policy Special Feature A Asian Monetary Policy Forum 2019 Special Feature B Mind the Gaps! Output Gaps for Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Assessments Special Feature C Upgrading and Inflation Expectations in Singapore: A Survey Experiment	MAS
	Effects of Dark Trading on Liquidity of Singapore Equity Market, November 2019. The growth of dark trading in equities has driven academic research and attracted attention from regulators concerned about its effects on market quality. In this paper, we analyse and simulate the effects of dark trading on the market quality and efficiency of Singapore’s equity market. While our results generally support the conventional criticisms of dark trading, we find that on-exchange liquidity ("lit market liquidity") starts to worsen only when the proportion of dark trading increases beyond certain levels. In fact, our simulations suggest that some dark trading can actually improve lit market liquidity for illiquid, and small and mid-market capitalisation stocks...	MAS
	MAS Survey of Professional Forecasters, September 2019. The Singapore economy expanded by 0.1% in Q2 2019 compared with the same period last year, lower than the 1.6% projected by respondents in the previous survey. In the current survey, year-on-year growth in Q3 2019 is expected to come in at 0.3%. The respondents expect GDP growth to come in at 0.6% in 2019, a step down from 2.1% in the previous survey...	MAS
	Economic Reforms in the Aftermath of Regime Change in Malaysia, October 2019. The 14th General Election in May 2018 brought about an unexpected change in political rule in Malaysia for the first time since the country’s independence in 1957. In its first year of rule, the new Pakatan Harapan-led government implemented several populist economic policies that were drawn from its election manifesto. While these policies may have moderated populist politics to some extent, they have also weakened the government’s fiscal capacity. Ethnic fragmentation and a strengthened opposition alliance have also made it difficult for the new government to implement its ambitious institutional reform agenda. The new government needs to formulate and implement a new growth strategy that overcomes some of the existing structural weakness of the economy...	ISEAS
	Agglomeration, Human Capital and Foreign Labour: The Case of Malaysia, September 2019. Trade, FDI and foreign labour have been key factors in the growth and transformation of Malaysia. The deindustrialization of the Malaysian economy has been attributed by some to the excessive dependence on the relatively low-skilled foreign labour in the country. This study finds that there is some evidence that foreign labour weakens the relationship between labour productivity and agglomeration. This is likely to take place through the weakening of human capital-effects by low-skilled foreign labour. Policies aimed at managing foreign labour need to take into account geographical agglomeration effects...	ISEAS
	Latest APEC publications: Strengthening Rural Areas as a Contribution to Food Security in the Asia-Pacific Region, October 2019 Establishment of Seafarer Excellence Network of the Asia-Pacific, October 2019 APEC Supply-Chain Connectivity Framework Action Plan 2017-2020: Interim Review of External Indicators, October 2019 APEC Study on Innovation Mining Industry of Sustainable Growth, October 2019 APEC Capacity Building Workshop on RTA/FTA Negotiation Skills for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, October 2019 Emerging Energy Security Risks in Changing Energy Landscape, October 2019 Reducing Food Waste by Using Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Innovative Technologie, October 2019 APEC Financial Inclusion Capacity Building Package - Synthesis Report, October 2019 The APEC Women and the Economy Dashboard 2019, October 2019 Structural Reform Measures to Improve Women's Access to Labor Markets, Finance and Capital, October 2019 Best Practices on Tools for Combating and Preventing Illegal Logging Activities and Associated Trade, February 2019	APEC
	Asia Bond Monitor, September 2019. Local currency bond markets in emerging East Asia expanded steadily during the second quarter of 2019 despite ongoing trade conflicts, an economic slowdown in the People’s Republic of China, and moderating global growth. At the end of June, there was $15.3 trillion in local currency bonds outstanding in the region, 3.5% more than at the end of March and 14.2% more than in June 2018. Bond issuance in emerging East Asia amounted to $1.6 trillion in the second quarter, 12.2% higher than in the first quarter...	ADB
	ASEAN+3 Bond Market Guide: Exchange Bond Market in the People's Republic of China, October 2019. This edition focuses on the exchange bond market in the People’s Republic of China, which is one of the country’s most important bond markets and one of only two that are accessible to foreign investment. The ASEAN+3 Bond Market Guide: Exchange Bond Market in the People's Republic of China is an outcome of the strong support and kind contributions of ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum members and experts, particularly those from the country...	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Postdisaster Subsidies for Small and Medium Firms: Insights for Effective Targeting, October 2019 The Illusions of Calculating Total Factor Productivity and Testing Growth Models: From Cobb–Douglas to Solow and Romer, October 2019 Evidence from Measuring Community Flood Resilience in Asia, October 2019 Enabling Factors for Financing and Implementing Postdisaster Operations, October 2019 Nowcasting Economic Growth in India: The Role of Rainfall, October 2019 International Migration in Asia and the Pacific: Determinants and Role of Economic Integration, October 2019 The 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Epidemic: A Retroactive Examination of Economic Costs, October 2019 Disaster Insurance in Developing Asia: An Analysis of Market-Based Schemes, September 2019	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Regulating Fintech for Sustainable Development in the People’s Republic of China, October 2019 Money and Central Bank Digital Currency, October 2019 Leveraging SME Finance through Value Chains in Kazakhstan, October 2019 Leveraging SME Finance through Value Chains in Tajikistan, October 2019 Leveraging SME Finance through Value Chains in the CAREC Landlocked Economies, October 2019 Fintech, Cryptoassets, and Central Bank Digital Currency in the Republic of Korea, October 2019 Project Stella and the Impacts of Fintech on Financial Infrastructures in Japan, October 2019 Regulating Fintech: Objectives, Principles, and Practices, October 2019 Highway Access and Human Capital Investments in the Rural Regions of the People’s Republic of China, October 2019 Fintech Development and Regulatory Frameworks in Indonesia, October 2019 Fintech Development in Hong Kong, China, October 2019 Valuing the Environment, October 2019 Assessing Energy Security in the Caspian Region: The Geopolitical Implications for European Energy Strategy, October 2019 The Role of Renewable Energy in Resolving Energy Insecurity in Asia, October 2019 Securing Access to Electricity with Variable Renewable Energy in the Philippines: Learning from the Nordic Model, September 2019 Modeling the Russian Federation–Asia and the Pacific Energy Trade, September 2019 Energy Challenges for Clean Cooking in Asia, the Background, and Possible Policy Solutions, September 2019	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: Climate-Smart Practices for Intensive Rice-Based Systems in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Nepal, October 2019 Information and Communication Technology for Agriculture in the People's Republic of China, November 2019 Ending Hunger in Asia and the Pacific by 2030: An Assessment of Investment Requirements in Agriculture, October 2019 Creating Livable Cities: Regional Perspectives, Published 2019 Maritime Cooperation in SASEC, Published 2019 Nature-Based Solutions for Cities in Viet Nam: Water Sensitive Urban Design, Published 2019	ADB


October, 2019

	Hong Kong: High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecasts Current Quarter Model: 2019Q4, October 2019. According to its High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecast, real GDP is estimated to drop by 0.1% in 19Q3 when compared with the same period in 2018, reverted from the 0.5% growth in 19Q2. Clouded by the US-China trade friction, world economic slowdown and escalating protests in Hong Kong, Hong Kong’s economy is inevitably dragged into negative growth in the second half of 2019. In 19Q4, real GDP is expected to fall by 0.9% when compared with the same period last year. We forecast a zero growth in Hong Kong’s GDP in 2019 as a whole, holding back the 3.0% growth in 2018. It is a downward revision of our previous forecast by 1.8 percentage points, reflecting the plunge in domestic demand...	HKU
	Now I Know my ABCs: U.S.-China Policy on AI, Big Data, and Cloud Computing, September 2019. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, and Cloud Computing (ABC) have generated unprecedented opportunities and challenges for economic competitiveness, national security, and law and order, as well as the future of work. ABC policies and practices have become contentious issues in U.S.-China bilateral relations. Pundits see a U.S.-China AI race and are already debating which country will win. Kaifu Lee, the CEO of Sinovation Ventures, believes that China will exceed the United States in AI in about five years. Others argue that China will never catch up. This essay focuses on two issues: the comparative ABC strengths of the United States and China in data and research and development (R&D); and the emerging ABC policies and practices in the two nations...	EWC
	U.S.-China Trilateral Aid Cooperation: Features, Prospects, and Recommendations, August 2019. The current trade war between China and the United States has drawn global attention to competition in U.S.-China relations. Such competition should not, however, obscure areas of mutual interest where cooperation is possible. Based on U.S.-China trilateral pilot projects, trilateral cooperation creates opportunities for aid officials and practitioners from China and the United States to communicate, but it would be ambitious to expect the limited number of pilot projects to shape Chinese aid practices or improve Chinese aid performances in the short term. These pilot projects are small in scale, and the level of coordination between China and the United States should be strengthened further...	EWC
	Making the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact Work for Sri Lanka, September 2019. In April 2019, the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) approved a compact program for Sri Lanka. This is a large five-year grant that was provided to Sri Lanka on the basis that it meets the MCC’s eligibility criteria of good governance, economic freedom, and investment in its citizens. It will be implemented by a team appointed by the Sri Lankan government, under the guidance of MCC. As the process has taken longer than expected, it is hoped that the MCC Board when they meet on 18 September 2019 will grant additional time for the MCC Sri Lanka Compact (MCC Compact) to be approved by Sri Lanka’s Cabinet. President Maithripala Sirisena has suggested that a decision would be taken after the upcoming Presidential elections in Sri Lanka in December 2019...	EWC
	Australia-Afghanistan Relations: Reflections on a Half-Century, September 2019. It is now fifty years since diplomatic relations were formally established between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Kingdom of Afghanistan. Superficially, the two countries might seem to have little in common. Nonetheless, there is more to unite Australians and Afghans than one might think at first glance. Even before the Australian colonies federated, Afghans made their way to Australia to provide transport by camel in Australia’s inland. By the time of the 2016 census 46,800 Afghans were living in Australia. And since 2001, more than 25,000 members of the Australian Defence Force have served in Afghanistan. Recent years have brought Australia and Afghanistan far closer to each other than ever before in their history...	ASPI
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #14: China’s Evolving Policy towards the Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia (1949–2018). The Chinese diaspora, consisting of both Chinese living overseas who are citizens of China (huaqiao), and people of Chinese descent who are citizens of foreign countries (huaren), have significantly shaped the making of modern China. China’s policy towards its diaspora is primarily governed by its national interests and foreign policy imperatives. However, the Chinese government has been careful to ensure that the huaqiao and the huaren fall into different policy domains: Chinese citizens living overseas are subject to China’s domestic policies, while Chinese descendants who are citizens of other countries come under China’s foreign affairs. Nevertheless, from the beginning, the latter continue to be regarded as kinsfolk distinct from other foreign nationals...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #13: Quality, Equity, Autonomy: Malaysia’s Education Reforms Examined. The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government promised education reforms before getting elected in 2018, and presently grapples with the complexities of making good on those pledges while seeking to negotiate continuity and change with regard to the previous administration’s Malaysian Education Blueprint launched in 2013. This article situates the education reforms in the context of Malaysia’s highly centralized administration, embedded practices and policy initiatives of recent years. Discussion focuses on three areas—quality, equity, autonomy—where PH has more distinctly differentiated itself from its predecessor...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #12: Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy Outlook. The United States launched a new Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy in late 2017 after reluctantly concluding that its patient effort to engage and socialize China to the rules-based order since 1972 had failed. China’s behaviour since 2009 convinced the United States that China is a revisionist power seeking to impose an authoritarian model of governance in Asia which, if successful, would end the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific as well as endanger US security and vital trade interests. The new US FOIP strategy initiative seeks to engage like-minded nations in economic, security (both traditional and non-traditional), and political governance partnerships to construct a collaborative and scalable network of relations that will be able to respond flexibly to meet a wide range of stakeholder needs and regional contingencies across the Indo-Pacific region...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #11: Between Social Services and Tolerance: Explaining Religious Dynamics in Muhammadiyah. Muhammadiyah, together with the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), are seen as the two pillars of moderate Islam in Indonesia. Muhammadiyah is currently often perceived to be the more conservative of the two and to have more affinity with Islamist groups. On political issues, for instance, it is steered by Islamist imagery. On cultural issues, Muhammadiyah is often guided by old enmity towards what is called the TBC (takhayul, bid’ah dan churafat; delusions, religious innovation without precedence in the Prophetic traditions and the Qur’an, and superstitions or irrational belief). This position has placed Muhammadiyah in an uneasy relationship with both local cultures and traditionalist Islam...	ISEAS
	Asian Development Outlook 2019 Update and Highlights. Developing Asia’s gross domestic product is forecast to slow from 5.9% in 2018 to 5.4% in 2019 and 5.5% in 2020. Inflation across developing Asia is forecast to increase from 2.5% in 2018 to 2.7% this year and in 2020. Growth in developing Asia is moderating but remains robust. As global trade slows and investment weakens, regional growth forecasts are trimmed from Asian Development Outlook 2019 by 0.3 percentage points for 2019 and by 0.1 points for 2020 compared to April forecasts. The revisions reflect gloomier prospects for international trade and evidence of slowing growth in the advanced economies and the People's Republic of China, as well as in India and the larger economies in East and Southeast Asia...	ADB
	Selected Asian Development Bank Member Fact Sheets: Afghanistan, Austria, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Korea, Republic of, Netherlands, Norway, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taipei,China, and Turkey.	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: What Explains the Growing Global Demand for Cash? September 2019 Default Risks, Moral Hazard, and Market-Based Solution: Evidence from Renewable Energy Market in Bangladesh, September 2019 Illusion of Gender Parity in Education: Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Bangladesh, September 2019 Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Pollution Abatement, September 2019 Effect of Growing Up Poor on Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Indonesia, September 2019 Institutional Mechanisms for Sustainable Sanitation: Lessons from Japan for Other Asian Countries, September 2019 Remittance Inflows, Financial Inclusion, and Economic Development: An Empirical Analysis of the World Sample, September 2019 Reform of State-Owned Enterprises in Viet Nam to Increase Performance and Profit, September 2019 Factors Affecting Investors’ Intention to Invest in a Peer-to-Peer Lending Platform in Malaysia: An Extended Technology Acceptance Model, September 2019 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Finance in Uzbekistan: Challenges and Opportunities, September 2019 Inducing Private Finance to Water Supply and Inland Water Transport Using Spillover Tax Revenues, September 2019 Why and for What? An Evidence of Agriculture Credit Demand among Rice Farmers in Pakistan, September 2019 Information Environment and Corporate Innovation: A Survey, August 2019 Renewable Energy in Central Asian Economies: Role in Reducing Regional Energy Insecurity, August 2019 Energy Insecurity and Renewable Energy Sources: Prospects and Challenges for Azerbaijan, August 2019 Quality Infrastructure and Natural Disaster Resiliency, August 2019	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: ADB Gender Bond Newsletter 2019, Published 2019 Finding Balance 2019: Benchmarking the Performance of State-Owned Banks in the Pacific, August 2019 2019 Trade Finance Gaps, Growth, and Jobs Survey, September 2019 Kyrgyz Republic: Improving Growth Potential, September 2019 Kyrgyz Republic: Improving Growth Potential - Highlights, September 2019 Macroeconomic Update: Nepal, September 2019 The Role of Social Assistance in Reducing Poverty and Inequality in Asia and the Pacific, September 2019 Philippine Business Cycle Characterization: A Christiano-Fitzgerald Band Pass Filter Reassessment, August 2019	ADB
	Asian Development Review, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2019 (Full Report): This edition focuses on perspectives on structural change, whether the traditional path of moving from agriculture to industry and services still holds, the impact of globalization, and the effect of structural change on labor markets. It also discusses the macroeconomic effects of public infrastructure in the Philippines, the impact of extreme natural hazards such as droughts and floods on health-care utilization and expenditures in Sri Lanka, and the relationship between the exporting and ownership characteristics of firms in providing a safe working environment in Viet Nam's manufacturing firms. Mini Symposium on Perspectives on Structural Change Structural Transformation around the World: Patterns and Drivers Structural Transformation to Manufacturing and Services: What Role for Trade? From Import Substitution to Integration into Global Production Networks: The Case of the Indian Automobile Industry Global Value Chains and Employment Growth in Asia Wages Over the Course of Structural Transformation: Evidence from India Improving Public Infrastructure in the Philippines The Cost of Being Under the Weather: Droughts, Floods, and Health-Care Costs in Sri Lanka Providing a Safe Working Environment: Do Firm Ownership and Exporting Status Matter?	ADB
	APEC Capacity Building Workshop on WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, September 2019. This publication provides background of the project, summary of presentations, discussions and recommendations from the workshop, APEC Capacity Building Workshop on TFA for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) held in Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam on 13-14 June 2019.The workshop was conducted with the following objectives: (1) increase knowledge of MSMEs and experts from MSME associations and supporting organizations on the TFA (the Agreement, ratification of WTO members, implementation of WTO members, opportunities and challenges, how the TFA benefits SMEs, etc; (2) share experience from speakers and among participants, and discuss on how to integrate the TFA in SME development policies and (3) network MSMEs and experts from MSME associations and supporting organizations.	APEC
	Small-scale LNG in Asia-Pacific, September 2019. Interest in the use of small-scale LNG (SSLNG) has increased in recent years as demand for natural gas in the Asia-Pacific region continues to increase. SSLNG has some unique advantages such as lower initial investment, shorter construction periods and increased operational and logistical flexibility. This makes SSLNG a particularly advantageous way of supplying natural gas to outlying islands or remote regions. This study aims to assess the opportunities and challenges of introducing SSLNG in the Asia-Pacific region and considers study-cases and policies that may favor its expansion in the region.	APEC
	SMEs’ Integration into Global Value Chains in Services Industries: Tourism Sector, August 2019. This report presents a comprehensive research on structures, main strategies for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to participate in tourism global value chains (GVCs), as well as best government practices and policies on facilitating MSMEs access to tourism GVCs. It has been prepared to facilitate better understanding of the structure of tourism GVCs and the opportunities and challenges for tourism MSMEs in the Asia Pacific and provides APEC policy makers a set of recommendations to improve strategies to integrate MSMEs into tourism GVCs and how to enhance MSMEs competitiveness in tourism services . It includes survey results that present APEC economies’ issues to address the integration of MSMEs into GVCs, as well as a set of case studies including developed and developing economies’ best practices.	APEC
	Philippine Institute for Development Studies - Research Paper Series: Senior High School and the Labor Market: Perspectives of Grade 12 Students and Human Resource Officers, Published 2019 Forest Protection in the Philippines: Policy Evolution and Sector Outcomes, Published 2019 Recommendations toward Successful Agribusiness Venture Arrangement, Published 2019	PIDS
	Philippine Institute for Development Studies - Development Research News: Corruption, IP Issues Beset PH Mining, July-September 2019 Improve Performance of Boys in PH educ - PIDS Study, April-September 2019 Increase Technology Adoption, Review Regulations, PH Advised, January-March 2019	PIDS
	Latest Philippine Institute for Development Studies - Discussion Papers: Silver Linings for the Elderly in the Philippines: Policies and Programs for Senior Citizens, September 2019 Understanding the New Globalization: Implications for the Philippines, September 2019 The Evolution of APEC and its Role in Philippine Trade and Investment, July 2019 'Starting Where the Children Are': A Process Evaluation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Implementation, June 2019 Examining the Women's Low Labor Market Participation Rate in the Philippines: Is Housework the Missing Link? June 2019 A Note on the 2019 President's Budget, May 2019 Understanding the Educational Mobility of Men and Women and the Schooling Progression of Boys and Girls in the Philippines: A Regional Perspective, April 2019 Counting Women's Work in the Philippines, April 2019 Gender Equity in Education: Helping the Boys Catch Up, April 2019	PIDS
	Latest Philippine Institute for Development Studies - Policy Notes: Strengthening Institutional Links for Irrigation Water Governance, July 2019 Evaluation of National Irrigation Systems in the Philippines, July 2019 Issues on Communal Irrigation Systems in the Philippines, June 2019 Mobilizing Local Governments To Prevent Child Stunting, May 2019 Financial Sector Development: A Review, May 2019 Challenges in the Philippine Mining Industry, May 2019 Taxation in Financial Services under TRAIN, March 2019 ICT Regulation and Regulatory Authority, March 2019 Pressures on Public School Teachers and Implications on Quality, February 2019	PIDS
	Journal of Global Buddhism, Vol 19, 2018 and Vol 20, 2019.	JGB


September, 2019

	Once More with Feeling: Russia and the Asia-Pacific, August 2019. The rise of Asia is the central challenge of Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy. No other continent will have a greater impact on Russia’s international prospects in the coming decades. The Asia-Pacific, in particular, is already the principal region of global growth, geopolitical rivalry, and clashing values. Moscow’s long-time Westerncentrism is increasingly obsolescent, and the need for a fundamental reorientation of Russian foreign policy has become compelling. Recent developments point to a new level of commitment in Russia’s engagement with the Asia-Pacific. Moscow has moved beyond platitudes about a ‘turn to the East’ and is pursuing a multi-dimensional approach towards the region: reinforcing the partnership with China; reaching out to other major players; and promoting itself as a significant security and economic contributor...	Lowy
	Thematic Review of Collateral Management Standards and Practices of Corporate Lending Business, August 2019. The slowdown in global growth over the past year, amid heightened uncertainty and increased downside risks posed by trade and geopolitical developments, would have an impact on credit risk faced by banks. As credit risk remains a key concern for the financial sector, MAS expects banks to be vigilant in adopting sound credit risk management standards and practices to guard against these external vulnerabilities. Against this backdrop, MAS conducted a thematic review on collateral management standards and practices of banks’ corporate lending business over 2018 and 2019. This is the third in a series of credit thematic reviews of banks’ corporate loan portfolios, which started in 2015. These thematic reviews, taken together, covered key control elements of banks’ credit life cycle, and highlighted sound practices that the industry should benchmark against...	MAS
	MAS-SGX Trade Surveillance Practice Guide, August 2019. In its regulation of the capital markets, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) seeks to promote fair, efficient and transparent markets, where participants have equal access to information and transparent trading rules are effectively enforced. Such market integrity preserves investor confidence and is crucial for well-functioning capital markets that support trade and economic growth. As a frontline regulator, the Singapore Exchange Regulation (“SGX RegCo”), an independent subsidiary of the Singapore Exchange (“SGX”), works closely with brokers, MAS and other stakeholders to uphold robust compliance and surveillance standards, and encourages early disruption of irregular trading activities in SGX’s markets...	MAS
	Joko Widodo’s Re-Election and Indonesia’s Domestically Anchored Foreign Policy, August 2019. On July 14, newly re-elected Indonesian incumbent President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo delivered a speech on his visions for the second term, set to kick off in October 2019. The president’s speech did not touch upon foreign policy, a subject many have claimed to be his weakness. Expectedly, Jokowi focused his speech on infrastructure and economy — which reflects the administration’s main concerns since he first assumed presidential office in 2014. This does not mean, however, that Indonesia under Jokowi has been neglecting foreign affairs. It is perhaps true that Jokowi has not been a president with a grand vision for foreign policy...	EWC
	Emerging Trends in India-U.S. Oil and Gas Engagement, August 2019. Oil and gas trade is emerging as a new area of engagement between India and the United States against the backdrop of increasingly complementary interests. The emergence of the United States as the world’s top oil and gas producer in the last few years dovetails perfectly with India’s energy-deficient status and growing demand. With high rates of economic growth and over 17 percent of the world’s population, India’s energy consumption growth is largely fed by foreign imports of fossil fuels. While the increasing supply and demand are the obvious drivers of this upward trend in trade, the contours of energy ties have been fleshed out in the India-US Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) launched in April 2018. The trade component of the SEP envisages the sale of oil and gas to India from the burgeoning shale rigs in the United States...	EWC
	Towards a Commonwealth Law Enforcement Innovation Framework, August 2019.In March 2019, ASPI, with the sponsorship of Oracle, coordinated the ASPI–Oracle Innovation Framework Workshop. The workshop brought together subject-matter experts from federal law enforcement agencies, academia and the private sector to explore the feasibility of a Commonwealth law enforcement innovation framework (CLEIF). This followed a 2018 research project that explored the current state of innovation in law enforcement. That research was based on a case study of innovation in Australia’s federal anti-money-laundering (AML) provisions...	ASPI
	Indo-Pacific Election Pulse 2019: Thailand, Indonesia, India and Australia: Views from the Strategist, August 2019.With democracy under stress globally, a deeper understanding of the impact elections in the Indo-Pacific in 2019 will have on the region’s strategic direction is crucial. In the context of growing concerns over the strength of democracy, the influence of authoritarianism and ideological competition, this Strategic Insight—a collection of articles from The Strategist — delves into the complexities and implications of elections in India, Indonesia, Australia and Thailand.	ASPI
	The Australian Defence Force and Contested Space, August 2019. This new Strategy report looks at war on the high frontier of outer space, and what the implications such a development might have for the ADF. It highlights that space is not a sanctuary from geopolitical rivalries. The report notes that Australia is heavily dependent on the space environment, both for its national prosperity and societal well-being, and for its defence and national security, and the report examines Australia’s current approach to use of space for Defence. The report then examines emerging counterspace threats. China and Russia are moving towards deploying a suite of ‘counterspace capabilities’ to deny access to essential space systems used by the US and its allies, including Australia, prior to, or at the outset of a military conflict...	ASPI
	Defence Projects and the Economy, August 2019. This report examines what the national economy stands to gain from nearly $100 billion of planned investment in new defence capital equipment including submarines, frigates and military vehicles. The report emphasises that although the general public has been informed about some of the economic benefits of those projects, it has limited access to reliable information on most of their economic costs. Nor has the public been fully informed of how much of what goes into the projects will be produced in Australia...	ASPI
	Strong and Free? The Future Security of Australia's North, August 2019. This report argues that ‘there is a need to reconceptualize Northern Australia, as a single scalable Defence and National Security ecosystem’. This ecosystem should be developed to ‘deliver integrated support to current and future ADF and National Security operations’. The strategic importance of Australia’s north to Australia’s defence has long been recognized by government and policy makers. Despite strategic policy commitments to Northern Australia, there is a growing body of evidence indicating that the gap is widening between strategic policy and Defence’s actual activities and presence in the north. This could well be symptomatic of a gap in Australia’s northern development policies...	ASPI
	Projecting National Power: Reconceiving Australian Air Power Strategy for an Age of High Contest, August 2019. Author Peter Hunter says, ‘There’s rich potential for the Air Force’s new platforms—from F-35 to P8 to Growler—to help project our national influence. Air power’s value will be measured not just by its ability to deter and discourage traditional military threats, but also by its role in helping achieve influence in our region.’ Dealing with challenges like coercive diplomacy and political warfare will mean the ADF needs to help shape regional events to our advantage, as well as prevent others from doing things we don’t want. But that will require disruptive thinking about how air power assets can be used in unconventional ways...	ASPI
	Firm Performance and Structural Change: The Case of Thailand, August 2019. A key aspect of the development process is structural change. For most countries, this takes the form of a decline in the contribution of the agriculture sector in the economy accompanied by the rise of the shares of manufacturing and services. The theories and empirics of structural change have mostly focused on economy-wide and sectoral-level analysis. There is a scarcity of studies on the microeconomics of structural change due to the lack of long-term panel data at the firm level. This study undertakes a microeconometric analysis of structural change by studying how firm-level performance as defined by ROA and ROE is affected by structural change in the Thai economy. A key finding of this study is that trends in the financial performance of firms provide a useful perspective of the micro-level impact of structural change in the economy.	ISEAS
	Latest APEC publications: Competition Policy for Regulating Online Platforms in the APEC Region, August 2019 APEC's Ease of Doing Business – Final Assessment 2015-2018, August 2019 Education Guideline 6: Career Roadmap and Competence Requirements for Standards Professionals, August 2019 Insights on the Regulatory Environment within APEC Economies and Its Impact on Trade in Services in Food Value Chains, August 2019 Best Practices of Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) Implementation within APEC Economies: Opportunities and Challenges, August 2019 Study of APEC Economies' Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Notifications, August 2019 High-Growth, Innovative Companies in APEC Economies: Support Programs and Policy Recommendations, August 2019 APEC Workshop on Energy and Economic Prosperity, August 2019 Capacity Building for Managing Single Online Location for Regulatory Information in Indonesia, May 2019 Report on APEC Information Sharing Best Practices Workshop on Merger Control Regimes, May 2019 Advancing Inclusion through Enhancing Women and Girls' Digital Literacy and Skills in the Context of Industry 4.0, August 2019 Customs Cooperation in APEC: Strengthening Regional Cooperation, July 2019	APEC
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Environmental Performance in Asia: Overview, Drivers, and Policy Implications, August 2019 Leveraging SME Finance Through Value Chains in Landlocked CAREC Countries: Overview, August 2019 Measuring the Impact and Financing of Infrastructure in the Kyrgyz Republic, August 2019 The Growth of Carbon Markets in Asia: The Potential Challenges for Future Development, August 2019 Strategy, Independence, and Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in Asia, August 2019 Water Policy and Institutions in the Republic of Korea, August 2019 Payment System Innovations and Financial Intermediation: The Case of Indonesia, July 2019 The Impact of Government Support on the Performance of Indonesia’s State-Owned Enterprises, July 2019 Empirical Analysis of Global Oil Price Determinants at the Disaggregated Level Over the Last Two Decades, July 2019	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: Skilled Labor Mobility and Migration: Challenges and Opportunities for the ASEAN Economic Community, Published 2019 Protecting the Meghna River: A Sustainable Water Resource for Dhaka, August 2019 An Empirical Evaluation of Monetary and Fiscal Policy Effects in Bangladesh, August 2019 The Social Protection Indicator for Asia: Assessing Progress, July 2019 Building Resilient Infrastructure for the Future: Background paper for the G20 Climate Sustainability Working Group, July 2019	ADB


August, 2019

	Foreseeing India-China Relations: The 'Compromised Context' of Rapprochement, July 2019. India-China relations witnessed a new wave of optimism for a progressive and engaging partnership following the Wuhan Summit, the informal 2018 meeting between Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping. Key to this has been continuous exchange of political and official visits from both sides. However, these exchanges might not be sufficient to remove uncertainty and suspicion from their relations. As long as China’s relationship with the United States remains adversarial, China will embrace India—without guaranteeing that it will not adopt a confrontational posture in the future. Their shifting relations, though suggesting an official longing for an upward trajectory, are based on a compromised context. External circumstances have pushed them to rapprochement, but could also drive them apart. Whether India and China will sustain this rapprochement is difficult to foresee...	EWC
	Australia’s Approach to the South China Sea Disputes, July 2019. Over the past five years, Australia has expressed concern over China’s island building, militarization of land features, and excessive maritime claims in the South China Sea (SCS). Australia shares similar interests with the United States in upholding the maritime rules-based order, yet there are important divergences that reflect differing perspectives on geostrategic competition in the Indo-Pacific. While bipartisan support for the U.S. alliance remains strong, the importance of protecting trade relations with China has also shaped Canberra’s response to the SCS disputes...	EWC
	Belt and Road Initiative 2.0: ‘Qualitatively’ Different? June 2019. Following five years of periodic controversies and criticism – some factual, others contrived – President Xi Jinping used the Belt and Road (BRI) Forum in April to set the agenda for the next five years of his hallmark project. At the forum’s second edition, meant to promote a “stronger partnership network,” the Chinese leader pledged to “clean up,” stressed “zero tolerance” to corruption, and emphasized readiness to adopt “internationally acceptable” standards in the bidding process of BRI projects in the future. This language indicates Beijing’s openness to constructive criticism and willingness to objectively tweak some inherent weaknesses in the strategy and implementation mechanisms for the BRI during the 2013-2018 period...	EWC
	Jokowi’s Second Term: Economic Challenges and Outlook, July 2019. After winning the 2019 election, President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo’s has a great opportunity to bring the Indonesian economy into a stronger footing. Jokowi’s economic policies achieved mixed outcomes in his first term (2014–2019). He hasn’t delivered a promised 7% economic growth, but steady 5% growth is perceived as a commendable achievement, given slowing global growth, rising uncertainties, and low commodity prices. Macroeconomic stability has been well maintained, and Indonesia’s creditworthiness has improved during this first term...	ASPI
	From Board Room to Situation Room. Why Corporate Security Is National Security, July 2019. Corporations already protect their assets and functions. Corporate security encompasses those managers who address the preventive ‘likelihood’ and the resilience ‘consequence’ elements of risk management and seek to secure the business from a wide range of hazards, including criminals, issue-motivated groups, terrorism, cyberattacks, environmental events, natural disasters, espionage and supply-chain disruption. However, considering the company’s capabilities as part of our national security capabilities isn’t normally a factor in business planning. Our approach to national security planning should now include key companies and their supply chains: it’s time to rethink our national security approach in a more complex, dynamic and interconnected world...	ASPI
	The Post-Caliphate Salafi-Jihadi Environment, July 2019. In 2019, the global Salafi-jihadi architecture is very different from the one that emerged in September 2001, when transnational terrorism burst on to the international scene, or July 2014, when ISIL controlled more than 34,000 square miles in Syria and Iraq and thousands of young men and women were flocking to be part of its ‘caliphate’. Many of the leaders of the Salafi-jihadi movement are gone. Some, like Osama bin Laden and Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, have been killed, and many others have been captured or are in hiding. And yet, despite having no territory and having lost many of their leaders, both al-Qaeda and ISIL continue to pose a threat to the maintenance of international peace and security. In fact, one could argue that they pose more of a threat today, as the structure of the groups has moved from integrated to fragmented, making command and control more tenuous...	ASPI
	North of 26° South and the Security of Australia Views from the Strategist, July 2019. The idea of the north of Australia being central to the new concept of the defence of Australia in the 1970s derived from the key strategic fact that the only country in the region with the conventional military capabilities to threaten Australia was Indonesia. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Indonesia had the world’s third-largest communist party and was armed by the Soviet Union with modern submarines and long-range bombers. Australia’s response was to acquire F-111 fighter-bombers and Oberon-class submarines. However, by the 1980s, much of Indonesia’s military equipment was either out of date or suffering from a chronic lack of maintenance. Hence, the 1986 Dibb review and the 1987 defence white paper focused on the potential threat of low-level conflict, which could conceivably be escalated to the use by Indonesia of its deteriorating Soviet military equipment...	ASPI
	Between Japan and Southeast Asia: Australia and Us–China Economic Rivalry, June 2019. Recently, the economic front of US–China major-power rivalry has deepened and expanded beyond the legalistic confines of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Many in Australia, which has the US as its security ally and main source and destination of investment and China as its main trading partner, are rightly concerned by this evolution. Within the WTO and outside, Australia’s alignment on the economic dimensions of the US–China contest has been consistent for decades. Here, Australia is less aligned with the US than Japan and less aligned with China than Southeast Asian states despite trading more heavily with China...	ASPI
	The Leniency Programme in Malaysia’s Competition Regime: A Critical Evaluation, July 2019. Malaysia’s competition law came into force in January 2012. Detailed guidelines on a leniency programme were published in October 2014. Despite the leniency programme being designed based on best-practices found in more mature competition regimes and ICN, it has been under-utilised in the cartel cases investigated in Malaysia. This under-utilisation of the programme could be due to the enforcement agency having too much discretionary powers. Another reason could be the lack of immunization from civil proceedings. De-facto government oversight and spillover from deterioration in the country’s state of governance in the past could also have affected the public’s perception of quasi-independent commissions. This is reflected in the perceptions of the business community on courts and corruption in the country.	ISEAS
	High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecasts Current Quarter Model: 2019Q3, July 2019. According to its High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecast, real GDP is estimated to grow by 1.3% in 19Q2 when compared with the same period in 2018, improved from the 0.6% growth in 19Q1. The US-China trade tension severely dampened Hong Kong’s consumer sentiment and external trade in the first half of 2019 but it is expected to improve slightly in the upcoming quarters. In 19Q3, real GDP is expected to grow by 1.6% when compared with the same period last year. We forecast Hong Kong GDP to grow by 1.8% in 2019 as a whole, slower than the 3.0% growth in 2018 and a downward revision of our previous forecast by 0.5 percentage points...	HKU
	Emergency Liquidity Assistance in Singapore, June 2019. This Monograph outlines the approach taken by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in providing Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to financial institutions (FIs). As a central bank, MAS conducts money market operations daily to ensure that there is an appropriate amount of liquidity in the banking system. To reduce interest rate volatility and to facilitate the smooth functioning of S$ payment systems, MAS also operates two liquidity facilities1 – the MAS Intra-day Liquidity Facility (ILF) and the MAS Standing Facility (SF). These facilities allow eligible FIs to obtain intra-day or overnight S$ liquidity on a collateralised basis. Details of MAS’ liquidity management framework are set out in the monograph on Monetary Policy Operations in Singapore...	MAS
	A Guide to Digital Token Offerings, April 2019. This paper provides general guidance on the application of the relevant laws administered by MAS in relation to offers or issues of digital tokens in Singapore. For purposes of this guide, the securities laws refer to the Securities and Futures Act (Cap. 289) (“SFA”) and the Financial Advisers Act (Cap. 110) (“FAA”). The contents of this guide are not exhaustive, have no legal effect and do not modify or supersede any applicable laws, regulations or requirements...	MAS
	Incentive Structures in the Banking Industry, March 2019. Financial institutions (FIs) across jurisdictions have shown a clear shift in their view of the importance of sound culture and conduct in the years following the Global Financial Crisis. Notwithstanding the heightened awareness of their importance, progress in steps taken to improve culture and conduct has been uneven. We continue to witness how gross misconduct and unethical practices by FIs in some countries have eroded customers’ trust and public confidence in the financial sector. In many of these incidents, imprudent incentive structures were contributing factors...	MAS
	MAS' Approach to Macroprudential Policy, January 2019. The Monetary Authority of Singapore is an integrated financial supervisor that is responsible for “fostering a sound and reputable financial centre and promoting financial stability in Singapore. MAS achieves this objective through microprudential supervision of individual financial institutions and macroprudential oversight of the financial system as a whole. The objectives of MAS’ supervision and the principles that guide our approach are set out in “Objectives and Principles of Financial Sector Oversight in Singapore”, issued in April 2004. The schematic representation below illustrates how the various supervisory functions of MAS support its mission to promote a sound and progressive financial services sector...	MAS
	Fostering an Enabling Policy and Regulatory Environment in APEC for Data-Utilizing Businesses, July 2019. The objectives of this study is to better understand: 1) how firms from different sectors use data in their business models; and considering the significant increase in data-related policies and regulations enacted by governments across the world, 2) how such policies and regulations are affecting their use of data and hence business models. The study also tries: 3) to identify some of the middle-ground approaches that would enable governments to achieve public policy objectives, such as data security and privacy, and at the same time, also promote the growth of data-utilizing businesses. 39 firms from 12 economies have participated in this project and they come from a diverse group of industries, including aviation, logistics, shipping, payment services, encryption services, and manufacturing. The synthesis report can be found in Chapter 1 while the case study chapters can be found in Chapter 2 to 10.	APEC
	Promoting Regional Connectivity of Professionally Qualified Engineers in APEC, June 2019. This project comprises two main components: creation of the APEC Engineer Databank and the organization of the HRDWG-GOS Workshop and Dialogue on Promoting Regional Connectivity of Professionally Qualified Engineers in APEC. This report provides insights into the databank’s usage statistics to examine its usefulness as the official platform; and captures the gist of views and ideas raised by participants of the HRDWG-GOS workshop and dialogue. It concludes with specific short- and long-term recommendations that aim to guide APEC to support cross-border mobility for professionally qualified engineers.	APEC
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: The Impact of Typhoons on Economic Activity in the Philippines: Evidence from Nightlight Intensity, July 2019 Climate, Urbanization, and Conflict: The Effects of Weather Shocks and Floods on Urban Social Disorder, July 2019 A New Index of Globalization: Measuring Impacts of Integration on Economic Growth and Income Inequality, July 2019 The Links between Climate Change, Disasters, Migration, and Social Resilience in Asia: A Literature Review, July 2019	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Quality of Health Care in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, July 2019 Environmental Regulation: Lessons for Developing Economies in Asia, July 2019 Innovative Financing for City Infrastructure Investment by Increasing the Rate of Return from Spillover Tax Revenues, July 2019 Cryptocurrency Regulations: Institutions and Financial Openness, July 2019 The Gender Gap in Peer-to-Peer Lending: Evidence from the People’s Republic of China, July 2019 A Literature Review Evaluating New Approaches to Resolving the Sanitation Challenge in Developing Asia, July 2019 How to Avoid Household Debt Overhang? An Analytical Framework and Analysis for India, July 2019 Do Banks Price Environmental Risk? Evidence from a Quasi Natural Experiment in the People’s Republic of China, July 2019 Problems and Opportunities for Leveraging SME Finance through Value Chains in Azerbaijan, July 2019 Leveraging SME Finance through Value Chains in the CAREC Landlocked Economies: The Case of the Kyrgyz Republic, June 2019 Trade Reform, Managers, and Skill Intensity: Evidence from India, June 2019	ADB
	Other ADB Publications: Asian Development Outlook 2019 Supplement: Outlook Steady Even as Trade Tensions Persist, July 2019 Impact of Monetary Policy Uncertainty on Asian Exchange Rates, July 2019 Pacific Economic Monitor, July 2019 ADB Accountability Mechanism Annual Report 2018, July 2019 Characterizing Water Supply and Demand in Cambodia's River Basins, July 2019 Solar District Heating in the People’s Republic of China – Status and Development Potential, July 2019 A Sourcebook on the Compliance Review Function of ADB’s Accountability Mechanism, June 2019	ADB


July, 2019

	Modernization and Regional Cooperation in Central Asia: A New Spring? November 2018. Until recently, regional cooperation among Central Asian states has left much to be desired. While a number of initiatives have been launched over the past quarter-century, there is no functioning mechanism for coordination among the region’s states, and by early 2018, a decade had passed since Central Asian leaders met without the presence of foreign powers. Little wonder, then, that despite the close cultural and historical connections linking Central Asians together, the very existence of a Central Asian region has come to be questioned. In the past two years, there are important indications that this gloomy picture is rapidly changing. The pace of interaction among regional states has grown considerably. Controversies over border delimitation and water use have been largely resolved...	ISDP
	Overestimating the Power of China´s BRI – Lessons Drawn from Japanese ODA Engagement in Asia, June 2019. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013 is among the most ambitious global visions promoted by one country. The general goal of BRI is the provision of economic infrastructure worth at least $1 trillion to improve the land and sea routes between Asia, Africa, and Europe. In order to attract additional international investments to finance the initiative, China even created a multilateral bank – the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) — in 2015. However, China’s ambitious BRI strategy has met considerable criticism from politicians and policy-makers, journalists, analysts, and scholars. These criticisms include accusations of pursuing debt-trap diplomacy to gain concessions from countries participating in BRI...	EWC
	Pathways for the United States and Vietnam to Establish a Strategic Partnership by 2020, June 2019. The United States and Vietnam, former enemies, have transformed relations into a partnership since rapprochement in 1995. Moving away from their twentieth-century enmity, the two sides reached a breakthrough in relations with the establishment of a comprehensive partnership in 2013. A further step was taken in 2017 when a joint statement was issued for enhancing the comprehensive partnership. The next step should be establishing a strategic partnership by 2020. The foundation of the relationship between the United States and Vietnam comprises more than strategic considerations. It is deeply emotional, as people from both sides have worked together to address war legacies...	EWC
	Slim Prospects for US-Pakistan Relations to Pivot from AFPAK to Indo-Pacific, June 2019. The United States has not reoriented its Pakistan strategy away from a solely Afghanistan-Pakistan basis toward a wider Indo-Pacific perspective. Even so, a significantly positive transformation in Islamabad’s domestic environment and foreign relations can change the U.S. and international perspectives about Pakistan. For starters, there is a strong perception in Washington policymaking circles that until the Afghanistan issue is resolved, chances are slim that the United States will think of Pakistan in a broader Asian framework. Even the resolution of the Afghanistan conundrum would not guarantee an improved U.S.-Pakistan relationship...	EWC
	North Korea: Sanctions, Engagement and Strategic Reorientation, October 2018. This paper examines the roles that sanctions, and inducements might play in resolving the North Korea problem. It finds that while the "maximum pressure" narrative is plausible, the evidence to substantiate it is thin. Likewise, the North Korean regime is aware of the potentially constraining (or even destabilizing) political implications of cross-border economic integration and has acted to structure engagement in ways to blunt its transformative impact. Maximizing the transformative possibilities of engagement will require conscious planning by North Korea's partners...	EWC
	Australia-China Law Enforcement Cooperation, June 2019. Australia and China have an extensive and growing economic relationship underpinned by diverse people-to-people connections. China is Australia’s largest two-way trading partner in goods and services (A$195 billion in 2017–18). Chinese investment into Australia’s real estate industry increased by 400% in the five years to 2015, to A$12 billion in 2014–15. Money flows from China into Australia almost doubled between 2011–12 and 2015–16, from A$42 billion to almost A$77 billion. China is Australia’s largest source of overseas students (over 157,000 studied in Australia in 2016) and second largest and highest spending inbound tourism market (with 1.2 million visits in 2016). This economic relationship is mutually beneficial, but it also creates opportunities for criminals...	ASPI
	Women, Peace and Security: Defending Progress and Responding to Emerging Challenges, June 2019. his is the third year ASPI has run a series on The Strategist to coincide with International Women’s Day and examine Australia’s approach to women, peace and security (WPS). The series offered a timely opportunity to assess progress and identify some of the challenges that need further examination as the international community prepares to mark twenty years since the adoption of the first UN Security Council resolution on women, peace and security, and as Australia approaches the release of its second National Action Plan on WPS. The range of topics and themes canvassed in this year’s collection of articles reminds us that we cannot afford to be complacent...	ASPI
	Forward Defence in Depth for Australia, June 2019. With the re-election of the Scott Morrison-led Coalition government in May 2019, the future shape of Australian defence policy needs to be examined. The strategic assumptions that underpinned defence policy choices in the 2016 Defence White Paper were made in the years preceding the release of that document and extend from earlier white papers, including those released in 2009 and 2013. Their foundation goes back to the days of the 1986 Dibb Report and the 1987 Defence White Paper. In the next Defence White Paper, which could emerge as early as 2021, a continued approach that places too much emphasis on defending the inner arc—notably the ‘sea–air gap’—would not adequately address emerging strategic risks to regional stability. The strategic environment has evolved at such a pace that policies announced in 2016 have been overtaken by events. It’s time for a review of Australian defence strategy. It’s time for something new.	ASPI
	ANZUS and Alliance Politics in Southeast Asia, June 2019. Discussion over the future of US alliance politics in Asia has recently intensified. China’s power is growing, and US President Donald Trump is showing antipathy towards what he views as insufficient allied efforts to support America’s defence strategy in the region. While much attention has been understandably directed towards the US’s security ties with Japan and South Korea during Trump’s ongoing efforts to negotiate a denuclearisation agreement with North Korea, US strategic relations with Southeast Asia and its neighbours—what’s termed here as the ‘southern flank’—are also critical to Washington’s own long-term geopolitical interests and to that region’s sustained economic growth and geopolitical stability.	ASPI
	The PNG-Australia Development Partnership: A Redesign That’s About Listening and Transformation, June 2019. Stephanie Copus-Campbell brings a deep knowledge and passion about Papua New Guinea (PNG) to her work. In this ASPI Strategic Insight, she describes both her personal history with this key neighbour to Australia’s north and the complex, difficult challenges PNG faces. Refreshingly, she uses this context to propose a redesign of Australian development engagement with PNG, which is particularly timely and needed as the Australian and PNG governments contemplate further cooperation flowing on from the initiatives agreed with Port Moresby in Canberra’s ‘Pacific step up’...	ASPI
	Behind the Veil: Women in Jihad After the Caliphate, June 2019. Women have long played an important role in jihad, but the Islamic State has, since its inception, expanded both the potential and scope of those female roles. The caliphate may be no longer, but Islamic State’s military defeats have not dampened the appeal of jihad in many quarters. In fact, conditions are already set for an IS resurgence. There is a global cohort of over 73 000 women and children (10 000 of them foreigners) in Kurdish camps who surrendered after the fall of Baghouz. The Islamic State considers this cohort, as well as other female supporters, a key part of its future survival. As Islamic State shifts from governance project to global terrorist movement, women will continue to play an important part of that transformation...	Lowy
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #10: Interreligious Conflict and the Politics of Interfaith Dialogue in Myanmar. Amidst successive episodes of interreligious violence in Myanmar between 2012 and 2014, interfaith dialogue emerged as a crucial conflict resolution and prevention mechanism. The 2011–16 Union Solidarity and Development Party administration often indirectly promoted the use of interfaith dialogue to defuse interreligious tensions and conflicts, though its political will was questionable. Various governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental actors have engaged in interfaith dialogue, peace, and harmony initiatives in the past seven years...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #9: The Significance of Everyday Access to Justice in Myanmar’s Transition to Democracy. Legal pluralism in Myanmar is a reality that is not sufficiently recognized. A lack of recognition of and clear mandates for the informal justice providers, along with the absence of coordination between these providers and the judiciary, present critical challenges to local dispute resolution and informal legal systems. This results in a high level of unpredictability and insecurity concerning the justice outcomes and in the underreporting of cases. The lack of jurisdictional clarity represents an even greater challenge in areas of mixed control and where numerous armed actors are present...	ISEAS
	Smallholders and the Making of Malaysia’s Oil Palm Industry, June 2019. As part of efforts to curb the oil palm industry’s harmful socio-environmental impacts in Southeast Asia, scholars and policymakers have been showing more interest in independent smallholder farming arrangements. Smallholders, however, continue to encounter significant barriers to entry. Focusing on Southeast Asia, scholars have often claimed that oil palms are naturally endowed with processing cost economies favoring large-scale production arrangements. With their limited access to capital, technology, and skills, smallholders are disadvantaged relative to estates. The history of Peninsular Malaysia, with particular reference to Johor, suggests a different argument...	ISEAS
	Latest APEC publications: Compendium of Smart Manufacturing Policy and Regulatory Approaches in APEC, June 2019 APEC Low Carbon Model Town Project Dissemination Phase 1, April 2019 Application of Internet of Things in Earthquakes and Waterfloods Monitoring System, February 2019 APEC Workshop on Harnessing Digital Trade for SMEs, February 2019 Update of the APEC Baseline Study: Regulations of Products Derived from Innovative Agricultural Technologies and Identification of Ways to Promote Greater Efficiencies and Alignment, November 2018 APEC Food Safety Modernisation Framework to Facilitate Trade, June 2019 Energy Efficiency Policy Workshop: Developing Fuel Economy Regulations, June 2019 International Seminar for the Development of the Natural Gas Market: Comprehensive Analysis of Results, May 2019 Peer Review Assessment of Public Consultation as Used by Malaysia to Improve Regulation, May 2019 Compendium of Public Consultation Initiatives of Volunteer APEC Member Economies, May 2019 Promoting Quality Infrastructure Investment in Rapidly Urbanizing APEC Region, June 2019	APEC
	Asia Bond Monitor, June 2019. This issue of the Asia Bond Monitor features a special chapter on housing bond markets, including insights on how they can be further developed in the region. Local currency bond markets in emerging East Asia continued to expand over the first quarter of 2019 despite trade conflicts and moderating global growth. At the end of March, there were $15 trillion in local currency bonds outstanding in emerging East Asia, 2.9% more than at the end of 2018 and 14.0% more than at the end of March 2018. Bond issuance in the region amounted to $1.4 trillion in the first quarter, 10.0% higher than in the last quarter of 2018 on the back of stronger issuance of government debt.	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: The Growth Impact of Disasters in Developing Asia, June 2019 Rethinking the Limits of Climate Change Adaptation, June 2019 Changing Vulnerability in Asia: Contagion and Systemic Risk, May 2019	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Implications of Platform Finance on Monetary Policy Transmission, June 2019 International Migration and Remittance Effects on the School Enrollment of Children Staying Behind: The Evidence from Tajikistan, June 2019 Leveraging Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Finance Through Value Chains in Georgia, June 2019 The Role of Credit Guarantee Schemes for Financing MSMEs: Evidence from Rural and Urban Areas in Indonesia, June 2019 Credit Financing for Local Development: The Subnational Debt in the Philippines, June 2019 Russian Federation–East Asia Liquefied Natural Gas Trade Patterns and Regional Energy Security, June 2019 Determinants of International Remittance Inflows in Middle-Income Countries in Asia and the Pacific, June 2019	ADB
	Other ADB Publications: Potential Exports and Nontariff Barriers to Trade: Nepal National Study, May 2019 Leveraging Services for Development: Prospects and Policies, Published 2019 Development without Women Is Not Development: Why Gender Matters to the Asian Development Bank, Published 2019 Improving Education, Skills, and Employment in Tourism: Almaty–Bishkek Economic Corridor, May 2019 ADB Green Bond Newsletter and Impact Report Issue, Published 2019 International Conference on Energy 4.0: Designing the Future of Thailand’s Power Sector, January 2019019 Line of Sight: How Improved Information, Transparency, and Accountability Would Promote the Adequate Resourcing of Health Facilities Across Papua New Guinea, June 2019 Modernizing Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures in CAREC: An Assessment and the Way Forward, May 2019	ADB


June, 2019

	Virginia Review of Asian Studies 2019.	VRAS
	Religion, Morality and Conservatism in Singapore, May 2019. This paper documents and tracks evolving trends of perceptions and attitudes towards social and moral issues. These include respondents’ opinions towards homosexual sex and marriage, gambling, infidelity, freedom of speech, and the desired balance between personal responsibility and reliance on the state. Data for this study relies on relevant sections of the second wave of the Institute of Policy Studies’ (IPS) Survey of Race, Religion and Language (RRL), which was conducted between August 2018 and January 2019. It also compares the relevant results from the 2013 wave of the same survey. Altogether, 4,015 Singaporeans and Permanent Residents were polled in this second wave on issues ranging from aspects of their racial and religious identity, and their attitudes towards social and political issues...	IPS
	The Impact of the Trump Administration’s Indo- Pacific Strategy on Regional Economic Governance, Published 2019. The Trump administration's Indo-Pacific regional economic governance strategy addresses trade, investment, and infrastructure development. Its reception by regional states varies by issue area, with infrastructure and investment being positively received, and trade being negatively received. To alleviate policy clashes and lessen the “noodle bowl” effect of overlapping rules and regulations, this paper suggests that American and Asian governments should: (1) immediately pursue collaboration in the areas of investment and infrastructure; (2) advance investment cooperation via capacity training and investment treaty consolidation; (3) enhance infrastructure collaboration via the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act of 2018 (or BUILD Act of 2018), joint ventures, public-private partnerships, and capacity training; (4) push forward trade cooperation via formal and Track 2 (informal networks) dialogue to facilitate a policymaking process; and (5) encourage more inter-bloc dialogue.	EWC
	Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Inroads into Central Asia: Comparative Analysis of the Economic Cooperation Roadmaps for Uzbekistan, Published 2019. China, Japan, and South Korea have regarded Central Asia as a new Asian frontier in their foreign policies since the collapse of the Soviet Union. With time, their policies evolved into regionbuilding initiatives exemplified by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Belt and Road Initiative, Central Asia plus Japan Dialogue Forum, and Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum. This paper raises the following research questions: What are the areas of interest for China, Japan, and Korea in their relations with Central Asian states and Uzbekistan in particular? What are the patterns of agenda setting in establishing intergovernmental cooperation? What are the particular projects that these states initiate? What are the objectives of projects initiated within these areas of interest? How competitive or complementary are these projects of China, Japan, and Korea? Throughout, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean “Silk Road” roadmaps with Uzbekistan are discussed to highlight their similarities and differences.	EWC
	Expanding Opportunities for Multinational Corporations in U.S.-Japan-Southeast Asia Relations, May 2019. Southeast Asia taps the private sector to help finance its more than $3 trillion infrastructure deficit by promoting public-private partnerships (P3). To facilitate transparent and profitable P3 participation by the private sector, most Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have established P3 institutions and ratified legal reforms. Nevertheless, Southeast Asia’s initiatives have not been complemented by reciprocal initiatives and reforms by its major economic partners such as the United States to encourage multinational corporation (MNC) participation in P3...	EWC
	Demystifying Russo-Japanese Peace Treaty Talks Before the June 2019 G20 Osaka Summit, May 2019. In this time of strategic uncertainty as well as the return to sovereignty discourse in international politics, Russia and Japan have embarked on a complex negotiation process aimed at the signing of a post-World War Two (WWII) peace treaty and the settling of the longstanding dispute over the South Kuril Islands. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sudden proposal to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the September 2018 Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok to sign an unconditional peace treaty, followed by subsequent summits in Singapore, Buenos Aires, and Moscow, demonstrated the two leaders’ resolves to move closer than ever to a final agreement...	EWC
	Russia and India: Correcting Damaged Relations, May 2019. Russo-Indian relations have a long history. During the Soviet-era, especially from 1971, India was, in the full sense, a strategic partner to the USSR. It was not a member of the Eastern Bloc, but nonetheless maintained a friendly posture as one of the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which engaged in resisting the world order led by traditional colonial powers. At the same time, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supported the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) and Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) member state Pakistan, an important element of the Western Bloc’s security system. NATO’s propensity to support Pakistan automatically pushed India towards rapprochement with the USSR...	EWC
	China in Russia's Turn to the East, May 2019. In his February 2019 annual address to the Federal Assembly (the Russian parliament), President Vladimir Putin put Asian countries first in the foreign policy section of the speech — ahead of Europe and the United States — and spoke in positive terms about Russia’s relations with China, India, Japan and ASEAN. Putin’s statement is another indication of what has come to be known as Russia’s “turn to the East.”...	EWC
	Russia’s Ambivalence about an Indo-Pacific Strategy, May 2019. More than half-a-decade has passed since Russia started its ‘Turn to the East’, a foreign policy reorientation toward Asia. Throughout this period, the international environment as well as the Russian position in global and regional affairs has changed dramatically. In 2012, hosting the APEC Summit in Vladivostok, Russia saw a generally positive international attitude and was optimistic about cooperation with both West and East. However, the 2014 political crisis in Ukraine followed by a referendum in Crimea, which laid the background for the peninsula’s incorporation into Russia, and sanctions against Russia from the United States and the EU brought Russia’s relations with the West to their lowest point since the collapse of the Soviet Union...	EWC
	Understanding Russia’s Strategic Engagement with the Indo-Asia-Pacific, May 2019. During his annual address to the Federal Assembly on February 21, 2019 Russian president Vladimir Putin highlighted Moscow’s growing preoccupation with relationship building across the Indo-Asia-Pacific. China, India, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Japan were singled out as players with which Moscow plans to have either special partnerships or close and robust relations. With respect to Tokyo, Putin’s remarks may be haven been more aspirational than realistic, given Russia’s hard stance on the ongoing territorial dispute...	EWC
	The U.S.-Japan Alliance and ASEAN-centric Security Institutions: Vietnam's Perspective, April 2019. ASEAN-centered security institutions have long been criticized for being ineffective, especially in light of challenges from China. Despite these institutions’ weaknesses, the United States and Japan have long supported them. Two recent trends have altered the U.S.-Japan alliance: declining support for multilateralism within the Trump administration, and Shinzo Abe’s effort to strengthen Japan’s security capabilities and extend its presence into the “gray zone.” How will these trends affect the future of ASEAN-centered security institutions and regional security more generally...	EWC
	The End of Chimerica: The Passing of Global Economic Consensus and the Rise of US-China Strategic Technological Competition, May 2019. This Strategic Insights argues Australia has been slow or else reluctant to accept that the previous global economic consensus of free and open trade (especially with China) being an unmitigated good is over. Chinese economic and trade malpractices over a long period of time are having profound distorting effects on the global economic system and US dissatisfaction is deepening and irreversible. Advanced economies such as the EU and Japan share identical concerns. There is little prospect of Australia ‘waiting out’ the US-China economic dispute. We can help shape and improve elements of a US-led collective effort to impose carrots and sticks on China to persuade the latter to play by the rules or sit and wait for a world which has already passed.	ASPI
	Australia's Pacific Pivot, April 2019. Australia is doing a policy pivot to the South Pacific. The headline driving the pivot is the challenge from China. Australia’s deep strategic denial instinct is roused. Our announced ‘step-up’ is aimed at Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the other island members of the Pacific Islands Forum. Add to that list Timor-Leste, which faces the same problems as the islands and is part of the island arc that has obsessed Australia since before federation. With the pivot, we’ve made an ambitious offer to the South Pacific—economic and security ‘integration’—to uphold the region by holding it closer. Integration is a confronting idea for the identity and sovereignty of newly independent nations. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has shown political and diplomatic insight by talking about Australia as part of the ‘Pacific family’...	ASPI
	Chinese Influence in the Pacific Islands, April 2019. Over the past two decades, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has emerged as the most prominent new star in the firmament of Pacific Island affairs. Depending on the metric used, the PRC is now the second most engaged external power in the region. Beijing has made policy decisions and devoted significant resources during this time to build its stock of soft power in the region to support its expanding influence. Is it reasonable to conclude that China’s growing influence in the South Pacific is a consequence of a successful soft-power campaign? This report argues against rushing to such a finding. The admiration that Pacific Island states feel for China is genuine. However, on balance, China’s current regional soft power lacks breadth and depth, although it’s still evolving...	ASPI
	Monetary Authority of Singapore: Macroeconomic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 1, April 2019 (Full Report, Presentation Slides for Briefing): Monetary Policy Statement Chapter 1: The International Economy Chapter 2: The Singapore Economy Chapter 3: Labour Market and Inflation Chapter 4: Macroeconomic Policy Special Feature A Digital Currency Economics And Policy Workshop Special Feature B Rethinking Fiscal Policy In An Era Of Low Interest Rates Special Feature C Revisiting Monetary Policy Autonomy In Asia And Beyond: Trilemma, Dilemma Or 2.5 Lemma?	MAS
	The Game of Go: Bounded Rationality and Artificial Intelligence, May 2019. The goal of this essay is to examine the nature and relationship between bounded rationality and artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of recent developments in the application of AI to two-player zero sum games with perfect information such as Go. This is undertaken by examining the evolution of AI programs for playing Go. Given that bounded rationality is inextricably linked to the nature of the problem to be solved, the complexity of Go is examined using cellular automata (CA).	ISEAS
	US-China Trade War: Potential Trade and Investment Spill-overs into Malaysia, May 2019. The trade conflict between the US and China has the potential to affect Malaysia’s trade with both countries as both are important trading partners. The imposition of safeguard tariffs by the US will affect Malaysia’s solar exports to the US though its exact impact is unclear due to the complicated implementation of this tariff. The tariffs imposed on China raises the possibility of trade and investment diversion to Malaysia. Re-exports play an important role in Malaysia’s export adjustments to the US and China from 2017 to 2018. The possibility of investment diversion from China is high given the growing presence of China’s investment in Malaysia since the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).	ISEAS
	Latest APEC publications: APEC Energy Demand and Supply Outlook (7th Edition) - Volume I, May 2019 APEC Energy Demand and Supply Outlook (7th Edition) - Volume II, May 2019 APEC Regional Trends Analysis - APEC at 30: A Region in Constant Change, May 2019 Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) Framework of Photovoltaic Systems in the APEC Region, April 2019 Life Cycle Cost Assessment of Photovoltaic Systems in the APEC Region, April 2019 Life Cycle Assessment of Photovoltaic Systems in the APEC Region, April 2019 The STI Contribution to Policymaking on Natural Disaster Resilience: Better STI, Better Resilience, Better Competitiveness, April 2019 APEC Workshop on Leveraging Digital Technology to Improve Education in Rural and Remote Areas, March 2019 APEC Capacity Building Workshop on Domestic Consultation in RTAs/FTAs Negotiation, March 2019 Capacity Building on Management Technologies for Climate Smart Rice Cultivation in the South-East Asian and Latin American Rice Sector, February 2019 Research Outcomes: Summary of Research Projects 2018 2018 PSU Annual Report Policy Dialogue on Fuel Economy Platform, December 2018 Smart Power Management for Self-Sustained Green Community in the APEC Region, December 2018 APEC Sustainable Urban Development Report - From Models to Results, December 2018 Handbook on Technology Commercialization Practices in APEC Economies, July 2018	APEC
	Latest ADB Publications: Basic Statistics 2019 Pacific Economic Monitor (Special 10th Anniversary), May 2019 Leveraging Trade for Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Pacific, May 2019 Taxation Challenges in a Digital Economy - The Case of the People’s Republic of China, May 2019 Financing Affordable Housing in Yangon, May 2019 Impact Evaluation of Transport Interventions: A Review of the Evidence, April 2019 Impact Evaluation of Energy Interventions: A Review of the Evidence, April 2019 Closing the Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion through Fintech, April 2019 Realizing Education for All in the Digital Age, Published 2019 Fintech for SMEs, Published 2019	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Fiscal Space and Increasing Fiscal Resilience, May 2019 Financial Shocks and Exchange Market Pressure, May 2019 Water Tariff Setting and Its Welfare Implications: Evidence from Cities in the People’s Republic of China, May 2019 Debt and Depth of Recessions, April 2019 Capital Account Policies in Emerging Asian Economies: Are They Effective in the 2000s? April 2019	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Travel and Land-Use Impacts of the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, May 2019 Quantifying the Economic and Social Impacts of High-Speed Rail: Some Evidence from Europe and the People’s Republic of China, May 2019 How High-Speed Rail Affects Local Land Prices: Evidence from Taipei,China, May 2019 Modeling the Spatiotemporal Urban Spillover Effect of High-Speed Rail Infrastructure Development, May 2019 Development of High-Speed Rail in the People’s Republic of China, May 2019 Relationship Between High-Speed Rail and Regional Development: Lessons from Japanese Benchmark Cases, May 2019 Messages for Railway Systems Based on 30 Years’ Experience of Japanese National Railway Privatization, May 2019 A Station Location Identification Model for an Integrated Interoperable High-Speed Rail System, May 2019 Safety Culture in High-Speed Railways and the Importance of Top Management Decisions, May 2019 Industrial Specialization or Diversity? How High-Speed Rail Fosters Japan’s Regional Agglomeration Economy, May 2019 Optimization of High-Speed Railway Station Location Selection Based on Accessibility and Environmental Impact, May 2019 Speed and Socioeconomic Development: Influence of Indian Railways, May 2019 High-Speed Rail as a New Mode of Intercity Passenger Transportation, May 2019 Performance Differential Between Private and State-Owned Enterprises: An Analysis of Profitability and Leverage, May 2019 A Comprehensive Evaluation Framework on the Economic Performance of State-Owned Enterprises, May 2019 Internal and External Determinants of Housing Price Booms in Hong Kong, China, May 2019 Transit-Oriented Development Policies and Station Area Development in Asian Cities, May 2019 Approaches to Measure the Wider Economic Impacts of High-Speed Rail and Experiences from Europe, May 2019 Firm Adjustment to Trade Policy Changes in East Asia, May 2019 A Skeptical Note on the Role of Constant Elasticity of Substitution in Labor Income Share Dynamics, April 2019	ADB


May, 2019

	New Caledonia’s Independence Referendum: Local and Regional Implications, May 2019. After a long history of difference, including civil war, over independence, New Caledonia’s 4 November 2018 referendum began a self-determination process, but ended 30 years of stability under peace accords. Persistent ethnic division over independence revealed by this first vote may well be deepened by May 2019 local elections. Two further referendums are possible, with discussion about future governance, by 2022, amid ongoing social unease. Bitter areas of difference, which had been set aside for decades, will remain front and centre while the referendum process continues...	Lowy
	Taiwan's New Southbound Policy: Limited Progress and Future Concerns, April 2019. After three years, the expected effects of Taiwan’s “New Southbound Policy” (NSP) appear less substantial than hoped. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s NSP has put on its radar screen a few South and Southeast Asian countries and attracted some attention within Taiwan, but it has not been able to transfer a substantial part of Taiwan’s economic activities from mainland China to the NSP-identified countries and regions...	EWC
	The New Southbound Policy and Legal Constraints to Indonesia-Taiwan Education Exchange, April 2019. The Taiwan government is increasingly aware of the need to improve its soft power by promoting inter-state and society cooperation in various fields, including education and tourism. This effort is manifest in the New Southbound Policy (NSP). In the field of education, Taiwan’s government has created the Industry Academy Collaboration Program for foreign students, which has fulfilled two purposes: helping Taiwanese universities recruit foreign students, and providing Taiwanese industries with skilled workers through internships in the scholarship program...	EWC
	Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy: Accomplishments and Perceptions, April 2019. The Tsai Ing-wen administration’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) promises long-term gains for Taiwan and its population. If effectively executed, the policy can help bolster Taiwan’s relationship with its immediate neighbors, moderate some of the economic and strategic risks it faces, and even complement Washington’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. Using NSP engagement to push labor, environmental, and intellectual property regulation reforms could even help make Taiwan CPTPP compliant. Yet, the policy seems to face an ambivalent and somewhat muted public response within Taiwan itself...	EWC
	Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy in the U.S. Free and Open Indo-Pacific, April 2019. During her inauguration speech as president of Taiwan in May 2016, Tsai Ing-wen announced her administration’s revitalized New Southbound Policy (NSP) to engage countries in South and Southeast Asia, and Australasia. More than a year later, in November 2017, President Donald Trump laid out the American vision for a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) region — an area stretching from the U.S. west coast to the west coast of India. Both the United States and Taiwan have adopted engagement strategies focused on strengthening ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific region...	EWC
	Strategic Highlights of Taiwan’s People-Centered New Southbound Policy, April 2019. Launched in 2016, Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) is now in its third year. Regarded as Taiwan’s “regional strategy for Asia,” the NSP is the island’s response to regional dynamics in South and Southeast Asia. The NSP also articulates Taiwan’s strategic interests and practices echoing major powers’ approaches and initiatives toward the region. The strategic highlights of the NSP are characterized by the “4S” approach: systemizing Taiwan’s regional strategy for Asia, strategizing Taiwan’s importance, synergizing public and private partnerships, and structuring social links between Taiwan and regional neighbors...	EWC
	Indo-Pacific Development and Stability as Context for Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy, April 2019. The importance of Southeast Asia is supported by the dynamic energy of its emerging markets (ASEAN is now the world’s 5th largest economy and 3rd largest market), the integration of the transnational development hinterland (via the advancement of the Master Plan of ASEAN Connectivity), and its institutional arrangements in maintaining regional stability (the so-called ASEAN-led long peace). These three aspects are all closely related to the ASEAN-led regional integration processes, which is yet another overarching effort supporting the growth of the region...	EWC
	The United States and Japan Should Engage Southeast Asia through Science Diplomacy, April 2019. Withdrawal from major international agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the proliferation of “America First” rhetoric, and an apparent return to economic bilateralism under the Trump administration have eroded American soft power. Compared to 2013, fewer respondents in 2018 from Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines, and Japan expressed belief that US foreign policy takes the interests of their countries into consideration...	EWC
	Challenges for US-Japan Collaboration on Southeast Asia’s Energy Infrastructure, April 2019. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been the headline response to the vast infrastructure gap that faces developing Asia, especially countries in Southeast Asia. But no country is capable of single-handedly filling the gap, and BRI is prompting other donor governments to give higher priority to infrastructure assistance. Under the Trump Administration, the United States has overhauled its development finance strategy through passing the BUILD Act and establishing various economic initiatives under the Indo-Pacific Strategy...	EWC
	Huawei and Telefunken: Communications Enterprises and Rising Power Strategies, April 2019. This Strategic Insight, examines Huawei through a historical lens. It identifies strong parallels between the industrial policy adopted by Germany in the early twentieth century to cultivate a ‘national champion’ in communications – Telefunken – and the Chinese party-state’s support for Huawei since its formation in 1987. It demonstrates that Huawei and Telefunken both benefitted from guaranteed government orders for their hardware, protected domestic markets, long-term backing from national financial institutions, and diplomatic support for overseas expansion. These policies increased the firm’s competitiveness on the world market, facilitating the development of national capacity in advanced communications. The development of capacity in communications brings strategic benefits for a rising power – allowing it to escape dependence on the outside world for vital infrastructure, build capabilities with potential military applications, and build geostrategic influence in key regions.	ASPI
	Mapping China's Tech Giants, Published 2019. Chinese technology companies are becoming increasingly important and dynamic actors on the world stage. They’re making important contributions in a range of areas, from cutting-edge research to connectivity for developing countries, but their growing influence also brings a range of strategic considerations. The close relationship between these companies and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) raises concerns about whether they may be being used to further the CCP’s strategic and geopolitical interests. The CCP has made no secret about its intentions to export its vision for the global internet. Officials from the Cyber Administration of China have written about the need to develop controls so that ‘the party’s ideas always become the strongest voice in cyberspace.’ This includes enhancing the ‘global influence of internet companies like Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu [and] Huawei’ and striving ‘to push China’s proposition of internet governance toward becoming an international consensus’...	ASPI
	Politics in Indonesia: Resilient Elections, Defective Democracy, April 2019. Incumbent President Joko Widodo is the front-runner to defeat long-time rival Prabowo Subianto in Indonesia’s fourth direct presidential election on 17 April. Constrained by compromises and knocked off balance by the rise of identity politics, if Jokowi wins a second (and final) term, he is unlikely to make significant progress on much-needed economic, legal, and political reforms. Despite these concerns, there is hope for the future with a new generation of politicians from outside the elite now seeking to follow Jokowi’s path to national office. Indonesia’s future will depend on how far they use their electoral mandates to shake up a defective system...	Lowy
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #8: The Politics of Thai Buddhism under the NCPO Junta. The past two decades have been a time of turmoil in Thailand’s religious affairs. Disputes, debates and controversies concerning the administration of Buddhism, Thailand’s national religion by tradition, have erupted more and more frequently. This chronic and unresolvable conflict originates from Thai Buddhists’ inability to achieve a broad consensus on religious reform. Under the governance of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) junta that came to power in 2014, the fierce struggle concerning Buddhist reform seemed to subside...	ISEAS
	Manufacturing Performance and Services Inputs: Evidence from Malaysia, February 2019. The Malaysian economy has been deindustrializing since the late 1990s. The relative decline of the country’s export-oriented manufacturing sector has led to a decline in the trade ratio. This could reflect a decline in the country’s participation in manufacturing global value chains. The services sector makes important contributions to the performance of the manufacturing sector in terms of productivity and exporting. Therefore, any policy attempt to enhance manufacturing performance is likely to require improvements in the performance of the services sector. This is particularly important as there is evidence that the country’s manufacturing sector is increasingly dependent on services generated domestically.	ISEAS
	Economic Voting and the End of Dominant Party Rule in Malaysia, February 2019. This essay seeks to empirically examine economic and non-economic factors that determined the outcomes of the fourteenth general election in Malaysia. In the election, the incumbent coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) which had ruled the country since its independence in 1957 was defeated. Relatively robust economic growth in months prior to the elections failed to bolster voter support for the incumbent coalition. Unemployment and inequality further eroded voter support for BN. The election also saw a decline in the support of the Bumiputra community and East Malaysian voters for BN. A key factor in the end of BN rule was the defections of elite politicians from UMNO. Mahathir Mohamad, a former Prime Minister and UMNO President, together with other former UMNO stalwarts joined the opposition coalition and mobilized voters against BN.	ISEAS
	Religion in Singapore: The Private and Public Spheres, March 2019. This paper analyses Singapore data from a multi-country survey conducted in late 2018 as part of the International Social Survey Program Study of Religion (2018). The Singapore component of the survey, conducted face-to-face, examined the views of a random sample of 1,800 Singaporean residents on issues relating to religious beliefs, religiosity and the role of religion in the private and public sphere. The survey sample closely mirrored the general profile of the Singapore population. In the midst of contradicting trends of both religious resurgence and a decline in religiosity in various parts of the globe, analysing the trends of religiosity in Singapore and its impact on perceptions, attitudes and beliefs is critical. Religion is an influential and powerful force that seeps into multiple domains of public and private life. Tracking the expansive reach and influence of religion is thus crucial in maintaining interreligious harmony and surveying public sentiment in public policy.	IPS
	MAS Survey of Professional Forecasters, March 2019. The Singapore economy expanded by 1.9% in Q4 2018 compared with the same period the year before, lower than the 2.4% forecast in the December 2018 survey. In the current survey, year-on-year growth in Q1 2019 is expected to be 1.9%...	MAS
	Latest APEC publications: Handbook for APEC Independent Inventors, March 2019 Policy Recommendations Report for APEC Economies: Towards Increasing Independent Inventors’ Success Route to Commercialization, March 2019 Promising Practices and Design Principles in Career and Technical Education Delivered via Distance Learning Technology, February 2019 Traffic Light Score Methodology: A Tool for Ex Post Regulatory Impact Assessment, November 2018 Empowering Women as Managers of the Renewable Energy Sector, March 2019 APEC Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Structural Reform in Logistic Services, April 2019 APEC Workshop / Seminar on Capacity Building for Preventing Accidents in Maritime Dangerous Goods and Containers Transportation, March 2019	APEC
	Asian Development Outlook 2019: Strengthening Disaster Resilience. (Full Report and Highlights). Growth in developing Asia is projected to soften to 5.7% in 2019 and 5.6% in 2020. Excluding Asia’s high-income newly industrialized economies, growth is expected to slip from 6.4% in 2018 to 6.2% in 2019 and 6.1% in 2020. As oil prices rose and Asian currencies depreciated, inflation edged up last year but remained low by historical standards. In light of stable commodity prices, inflation is anticipated to remain subdued at 2.5% in both 2019 and 2020...	ADB
	ADB Annual Report 2018 (Main Report, Financial Report). The report focusses on the adoption of ADB’s new long-term corporate strategy, Strategy 2030, approved in July 2018, and highlights the strategic transition in progress across all aspects of ADB’s operations and organization.	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Macroprudential Policy in Asian Economies, April 2019 New Technology and Emerging Occupations: Evidence from Asia, April 2019 Targeted Cash Transfers, Credit Constraints, and Ethnic Migration in the People’s Republic of China, April 2019	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Big Data-Based Peer-to-Peer Lending Fintech: Surveillance System through the Utilization of a Google Play Review, April 2019 Adverse Selection and Credit Certificates: Evidence from a P2P Platform, April 2019 Challenges in Implementing the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: The Case of Viet Nam, April 2019 Prospects for Decent Work in Services, April 2019	ADB
	Other ADB Publications: Use of Remote Sensing to Estimate Paddy Area and Production: A Handbook, April 2019 Exploring Strategies for Planned Urban Cluster Development in South Asia, April 2019 Macroeconomic Update: Nepal, April 2019	ADB


April, 2019		Source

	Hong Kong: High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecasts Current Quarter Model: 2019Q2, April 2019. According to its High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecast, real GDP is estimated to grow by 1.0% in 19Q1, when compared with the same period in 2018, a further slowdown from the 1.3% in 18Q4. The global economic slowdown brought by the US-China trade tension severely dampened Hong Kong economic growth in the first half of 2019 but it is expected to improve in the second half. In 19Q2, real GDP growth is expected to revert to grow at 2.1% when compared with the same period last year. We forecast Hong Kong GDP to grow by 2.3% in 2019 as a whole, slower than the 3.0% growth in 2018 and a downward revision of our previous forecast by 0.5 percentage points.	HKU
	18 Years and Counting: Australian Counterterrorism, Threats and Responses, April 2019. This report provides a general overview of what successive Australian governments have done since 9/11 to counter the threat posed by Salafi-jihadi to the maintenance of international peace and security, to regional security and to domestic security. Since 2014, the threat level in Australia has been assessed as ‘Probable’, which means that credible intelligence exists to indicate that individuals or groups continue to possess the intent and capability to conduct a terrorist attack in Australia. Both Melbourne and Sydney have featured in jihadist videos and publications...	ASPI
	Jemaah Islamiyah: An Uncertain Future, March 2019. The reappearance of JI has major relevance for Australia given that Indonesia is a large and important strategic partner; any threats to Jakarta’s internal stability must therefore occupy a central place in Canberra’s foreign, defence and security calculations. This is especially true at a time when Australia is seeking to court a closer relationship with Indonesia in response to Beijing’s increased assertiveness in the region and its uncompromising stance on territorial disputes in the South China Sea. At the same time, Australia has been directly caught in the cross-hairs of JI’s past violent activities, with the 2002 bombings in Bali remaining the largest loss of life to a terrorist attack in the nation’s history...	ASPI
	Australia’s Second Sea: Facing Our Multipolar Future in the Indian Ocean, March 2019. This report argues that Australia needs a comprehensive strategy for the Indian Ocean that articulates our regional objectives and outlines a whole-of-government approach to the challenges and opportunities presented by the region. Australia is a major Indian Ocean state. We have by far the longest coastline and by far the largest area of maritime jurisdiction of any country in the region. In one way or another, Australia relies on the Indian Ocean for much of its wealth. But despite the magnitude of its interests, Australia tends to see itself as an Indian Ocean state only in a secondary sense—literally, the Indian Ocean is Australia’s second sea. We’ve long seen ourselves as principally a Pacific Ocean state, reflecting our history and demography. Most Australians have probably only seen the Indian Ocean out of the window of a plane, en route to a holiday in Bali or Europe...	ASPI
	US-Japan Water Diplomacy in Southeast Asia, March 2019. Southeast Asia is often considered "a global hot spot for water crises", where clean water supplies and sanitation in many cities are fragmented and suffering from weak planning, monitoring, and investment. Southeast Asia is going through rapid urbanization today, and its urban population is set to rise from 280 million today to 373 million by 2030. The structure of water governance in Southeast Asia is multi-level, linking local actors to transnational actors in various structures, making regulatory coordination challenging...	EWC
	Japan Holds the Reins of the US-Japan Trade Talks, March 2019. The US-Japan negotiation framework was affirmed in a joint statement issued in New York in September 2018. This simple seven-paragraph document allows for various interpretations. Paragraph three of the statement indicates that the two Parties will first discuss trade in goods, and some early achievable key issues. Paragraph four mentions negotiations on other trade and investment issues “after the completion” of that “discussion”...	EWC
	Israel in the Sino-US Great Power Competition, March 2019. The construction of the “Northern” port in Haifa began in 2015 in cooperation between two Israeli companies, Ashtrom and Shafir. The first one hundred and eighty acres were transferred in July 2018 to Shanghai International Port Group Co. (SIPG), which won the tender to manage the port for 25 years. This sparked a heated discussion in the Israeli press, academia, and even the Israeli cabinet. The debate concerned the implications of the port’s management by a Chinese company for Israel itself and for Israel’s ties with its main strategic ally, the United States...	EWC
	The Thailand-U.S. Defense Alliance in U.S.-Indo-Pacific Strategy, March 2019. After 200 years of diplomatic relations, the time has come for the United States and Thailand to build upon this strong foundation and chart a new course for their alliance in the Indo-Pacific region. This re-examination has hit roadblocks in recent years, as Thailand grapples with the effects of its ongoing coup and the role of the United States in the region is questioned at home and abroad. However, an opportunity has presented itself in the form of the United States’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy (FOIP). Both the United States and Thailand could capitalize on FOIP’s call for an updated, comprehensive strategy towards the region. Though still in the early stages, Thailand’s central role in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) combined with its long history with the United States position it to have a strong influence on what shape FOIP will take and highlight its importance as an ally to the United States...	EWC
	Central Asia: Japan's New 'Old' Frontier, February 2019. Japanese Silk Road Diplomacy, launched in 1997 by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, was to become one of the first international diplomatic initiatives appealing to the connectivity and revival of the Silk Road within Central Asia (CA). Subsequently, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dispatched a “Silk Road Energy Mission” in July of 2002, launched the “Central Asia plus Japan” region-building initiative in August 2004, and visited CA in 2006. Most recently, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited all five CA states in 2015. Collectively, these initiatives demonstrate that CA is Japan’s latest “frontier” in Asia, where its presence can be further expanded. For CA states, Japanese involvement in the region represents an attempt to balance Russian and Chinese engagements, while offering access to the technologies and knowledge needed to upgrade their economies’ industrial structures...	EWC
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #7 : Whither Myanmar’s Garment Sector?. The EU has threatened to suspend Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) status for Myanmar, under which the country’s exports can enter Europe without any tariffs or quotas. The official reason cited by the EU is a growing concern over human rights violations and issues around labour rights in Myanmar. If this threat were to be carried out, the business sector that will be most affected is Myanmar’s burgeoning garment sector, which employs around 700,000 people, most of whom are women. The principal worry in Myanmar is that if EU buyers and brands have to start paying tariffs to import Myanmar-made garments, then they will opt to shift their sourcing to other countries. Without GSP, Myanmar’s garment exports may no longer be price competitive...	ISEAS
	Latest APEC publications: Competition Assessment of Regulations: A Pilot Assessment in Viet Nam Using APEC-OECD Framework on Competition Assessment, January 2019 Off Grid Electrification Option for Remote Regions in APEC Economies, December 2018 11th Conference on Good Regulatory Practices, November 2018 Workshop Summary Report: Integrated Energy System Planning for Equitable Access to Sustainable Energy for Remote Communities in the APEC Region Using North Sulawesi as a Pilot Project/Test Bed, November 2018 Integrated Energy System Planning for Equitable Access to Sustainable Energy for Remote Communities in the APEC Region Using North Sulawesi as a Pilot Project/Test Bed, November 2018 Riding the Wave of the E-Commerce Trend: Emerging and Expanding Business Options for MSMEs, February 2019 APEC Regional Study: Renewable Energy Financing and Investment for Grid-Connected Wind and Solar, February 2019 APEC Capacity Building Workshop on RTAs/FTAs Negotiation Skills and Techniques, February 2019 Trade Policy Dialogue on Trade Facilitation Agreement TFA Category B and C Commitments, September 2018 APEC Business Efficiency and Success Target (BEST) Award: Catalogue of the Best Entrepreneurial Practices 2017 Follow-up Peer Review on Energy Efficiency in Malaysia, November 2018	APEC
	Asia Bond Monitor, March 2019. This publication reviews recent developments in emerging East Asian local currency bond markets, and includes analysis of the fourth quarter of 2018. It notes that the local currency bond market in emerging East Asia reached a size of USD13.1 trillion at the end of December 2018. Investor sentiment has improved but concerns persist about financial stability in the region. Yields have fallen while foreign holdings have increased in most markets. Local currency (LCY) government bond yields declined in most emerging East Asian markets between 28 December 2018 and 15 February 2019. The foreign holdings share in LCY government bonds climbed during the fourth quarter of 2018 in all markets except the PRC and Malaysia...	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: The Rise of the People’s Republic of China and its Competition Effects on Innovation in Japan, March 2019 Exchange Rate Movements and Fundamentals: Impact of Oil Prices and the People’s Republic of China’s Growth, March 2019 Gender and Corporate Success: An Empirical Analysis of Gender-Based Corporate Performance on a Sample of Asian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, March 2019 Environmental Governance and Environmental Performance, March 2019 An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of Syrian Refugees on the Turkish Labor Market, March 2019 Bursting the Bitcoin Bubble: Assessing the Fundamental Value and Social Costs of Bitcoin, March 2019 Fintech and Financial Literacy in the Lao PDR, March 2019 Quality Infrastructure Investment: Ways to Increase the Rate of Return for Infrastructure Investments, March 2019 The Role of Credit Rating Agencies in Addressing Gaps in Micro and Small Enterprise Financing: The Case of India, March 2019 The Role of Credit Guarantee Schemes in the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises with an Emphasis on Knowledge-Based Enterprises, March 2019 Sectoral and Skill Contributions to Labor Productivity in Asia, March 2019 Determinants and Impacts of Financial Literacy in the Lao PDR, March 2019 Services and Manufacturing in Global Value Chains: Is the Distinction Obsolete? March 2019	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: Good Jobs for Inclusive Growth in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, February 2019 Sri Lanka’s Macroeconomic Challenges: A Tale of Two Deficits, March 2019 Accelerating Progress: An Empowered, Inclusive and Equal Asia and the Pacific, Published 2019 Addressing Illegal Wildlife Trade in the Philippines, Published 2019 Rebalancing the Economy and Reforming the Fiscal System of the People’s Republic of China, Published 2019 The Dynamics of Urbanization, Housing, and Land Provision in the Pacific Island Countries, February 2019	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Nonperforming Loans in Asia: Determinants and Macrofinancial Linkages, March 2019 Quarterly Forecasting Model for India's Economic Growth: Bayesian Vector Autoregression Approach, March 2019	ADB
	Asian Development Review, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2019 (Full Report): This edition covers intergenerational mobility of families in slums of Jakarta, exports and imports of Thailand, and the effects of foreign direct investment on the productivity of 15 emerging market economies, among others. It also discusses labor market returns to education and English language skills in the People's Republic of China, agricultural and nonagricultural labor productivities in low- and middle-income economies in Asia, the Kuznets postulate on the association of structural transformation with increasing inequality for 32 developing and recently developed economies, the determinants of the nominal yields of Indian government bonds, and the effect of credit policy in the economy of the Republic of Korea. Intergenerational Mobility in Slums: Evidence from a Field Survey in Jakarta Dissecting Thailand’s International Trade: Evidence from 88 Million Export and Import Entries Foreign Direct Investment and Productivity: A Cross-Country, Multisector Analysis Labor Market Returns to Education and English Language Skills in the People’s Republic of China: An Update The Labor Productivity Gap between the Agricultural and Nonagricultural Sectors, and Poverty and Inequality Reduction in Asia Kuznets Revisited: What Do We Know about the Relationship between Structural Transformation and Inequality? The Long-Run Determinants of Indian Government Bond Yields The Effectiveness of Credit Policy: Evidence from the Republic of Korea	ADB


March, 2019

	International Journal of Korean Studies, Volume XXII, Number 1, 2018 The Strategic Case for South Korea to Join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Tensions in U.S.-Korea Economic Relations The Evolution of Korean Studies in the Philippines International Collaboration Efforts to Denuclearize the Korean Peninsula Sources of Conflict in South Korean Parricides, 1948 to 1963 Whose Coup? The Alliance of Park Chung-hee and Kim Jong-pil	IJKS
	‘New’ Malaysia: Four Key Challenges in the near Term, March 2019. In May 2018 Malaysia underwent its first regime change in its political history. This saw the return of Mahathir Mohamad as prime minster, 15 years after his first tenure as prime minster from 1981 to 2003. As the country heads towards the first anniversary of the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) government, it is imperative that the momentum for political change is not stalled. This Analysis identifies four key areas that the new administration must deal with in the next 12 months: the Malay Agenda/Bumiputra Policy; the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63); political Islam; and a clear timetable for transition of power. These issues are not only crucial to the stability of the PH administration, but also for long-term institutional reforms...	Lowy
	Counterterrorism Yearbook 2019. The Counterterrorism Yearbook is ASPI’s annual flagship publication curated by the Counter-terrorism Policy Centre, now in its third year of publication. It is a comprehensive resource for academics and policymakers to build on their knowledge of counterterrorism developments in countries and regions around the world. Each chapter in the yearbook is written by an internationally renowned subject-matter and regional expert who provides their insight and commentary on counterterrorism policy, legislation, operations and strategy for a specific country or region, looking at both the year in review and the challenges for the year ahead.	ASPI
	Agenda for Change 2019: Strategic Choices for the Next Government, February 2019. In 2018, many commentators pronounced the rules-based global order to be out for the count. This presents serious challenges for a country such as Australia, which has been an active contributor and clear beneficiary of that order. The government that we elect in 2019’s federal election will be faced with difficult strategic policy choices unlike any we’ve confronted in the past 50 years. This volume contains 30 short essays that cover a vast range of subjects, from the big geostrategic challenges of our times, through to defence strategy; border, cyber and human security; and key emergent technologies. The essays provide busy policymakers with policy recommendations to navigate this new world, including proposals that ‘break the rules’ of traditional policy settings. Each of the essays is easily readable in one sitting—but their insightful and ambitious policy recommendations may take a little longer to digest.	ASPI
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #6 : Military Capitalism in Myanmar: Examining the Origins, Continuities and Evolution of “Khaki Capital”. Military enterprises, ostensibly set up to feed and supply soldiers, were some of the earliest and largest Burmese commercial conglomerates, established in the 1950s. Union Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) are two profit-seeking military enterprises established by the military after the dissolution of the Burma Socialist Programme Party in 1988, which remain central players in Myanmar’s post-2011 economy. Military conglomerates are a major source of off-budget revenue for the military and a main employer of retired soldiers. Yet few veterans receive more than a small piece of the profits from UMEHL. The vast bulk of formal dividends instead disproportionately benefit higher ranking officers and institutions within the Tatmadaw...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #5 : From Declaration to Code: Continuity and Change in China’s Engagement with ASEAN on the South China Sea. China’s engagement with ASEAN over the South China Sea, from the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea to the ongoing negotiations on the Code of Conduct (COC), exhibits a dynamic continuum with two constants: 1. Dismissal of any legally binding instrument that would constrain China’s freedom of action; and 2. Persistent territorialization of the SCS despite Beijing’s simultaneous diplomatic engagement with ASEAN. The continuity is juxtaposed with elements of change in China’s engagement with ASEAN, as afforded by the former’s growing power and influence. This metamorphosis is manifested in China’s efforts to undermine ASEAN unity, robustly assert its claims in the SCS, and use economic statecraft towards ASEAN member states in return for their acquiescence...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #4 : The Indo-Pacific and Its Strategic Challenges: An Australian Perspective. The shift in the framework of Australia’s strategic thinking from the Asia-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific reflects the primary focus on the maritime environment in the coming decades and the expectation that over time India will become more embedded in the strategic dynamics of the Asia-Pacific. India is in the midst of a major geopolitical repositioning, as it pursues a hard-headed national interests-based policy and builds stronger strategic ties with a wide range of countries including the United States and its allies in the region. The region is entering a potentially dangerous phase in U.S.–China relations. China’s rise needs to be managed not frustrated; balanced not contained. Constructing that balance and anchoring China in a new multi-polar strategic equilibrium in the Indo-Pacific is the big challenge of our time...	ISEAS
	North Korea and ASEAN: Friends Again, but It's Complicated, February 2019. When Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un meet in Vietnam later this month, it will mark Kim’s second trip to Southeast Asia in less than a year. That in itself is something of a noteworthy feat, considering it had been over half a century since the last time a North Korean leader traveled to the region. The choice of venue also gives a bit of vindication to “the ASEAN way” – a preference among the countries of the region for neutrality and non-alignment in international affairs, coupled with a willingness to use their good offices to help resolve international disputes. A recent poll of Southeast Asian leaders from the fields of academia, government, business, and civil society revealed a marked preference for engaging, rather than pressuring, North Korea...	EWC
	Vietnam-North Korea: Communism Could not Unite Them, Can Capitalism? February 2019. Vietnam and North Korea were once considered ‘two of a kind’; divided countries, sharing a border with China and determined to unify their countries under the chosen ideology of communism. After the Cold War, the two took very different paths. Today, the relationship may have an opportunity for a new chapter – one that is based not on a common ideology, but by a desire for economic growth and development. North Korea and then-North Vietnam had long-standing relations. In fact, the DPRK was the third country after the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam established formal relations with in the same month of January 1950 – the year that the Korean War began...	EWC
	Historically Balanced Thailand-North Korea Relations, February 2019. Thailand-North Korea ties have long escaped international scrutiny since the two countries first established diplomatic relations on 8 May 1975. Thai-North Korea friendship and cooperation have developed with ups and downs reflecting the prevailing regional and global security environment. North Korea was the first communist country to officially recognize Thailand. In the absence of any outstanding bilateral disputes, both countries found it easy to get along despite ideological differences that further diminished when the Cold War ended. Pyongyang was eager to forge ties with Bangkok to end international isolation and counterbalance South Korea’s influence in Southeast Asia...	EWC
	Factors Shaping Philippines-North Korea Relations, February 2019. The Republic of the Philippines’ relations with North Korea are influenced by four critical factors: political alignment with the United States, realpolitik, international norms, and risks to Philippine national security and interests. In other words, historical, functional, normative, and strategic factors have been of greater or lesser significance at different junctures in the nearly twenty-year formal Philippines-North Korea relationship. The initial interaction between the Philippines and North Korea occurred as state-to-state conflict due to the Korean War (1950-1953), which was a byproduct of the Cold War. The Philippines, being a liberal democracy, showed the flag and sent boots on the ground by deploying the “Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea” (PEFTOK) to join the United Nations (UN) coalition forces under the leadership and operational command of the United States to defend democratic South Korea against an invasion by the Communist North...	EWC
	Myanmar-North Korea Relations are Primarily a Contest between Myanmar’s Civilian Government and Its Military, February 2019. Myanmar and North Korea have had a complex relationship since the 1990s. In the 2000s especially, the two countries’ military ties, including North Korea’s sale of missile technology and assistance in the construction of underground defense facilities in Myanmar, have caused international and regional concerns. While bilateral relations between Myanmar and North Korea have not always been easy, the challenges and struggles the two countries each faced have brought them closer. As pariah states shunned by the international community for their severe human rights violations and facing sanctions and embargoes by the West, the two countries managed pragmatically to meet each others' needs. For example, the Tatmadaw — Myanmar’s military — was intent on bolstering its military strength and defense capabilities and North Korea was receptive to helping to achieving this goal...	EWC
	How North Korea-Mongolia Relations Have Jumpstarted the Korean Peninsula Peace Process, February 2019. Mongolia’s diplomacy with North Korea, based on a long history of close relations between the two countries, has been a significant factor in the new atmosphere on the Korean peninsula. Mongolia believes that it faces common problems with Pyongyang, such as uncomfortable economic dependence on border neighbors — China and Russia — and geographical isolation from greater Asia. Landlocked Mongolia’s diversification of trade partners through its own “Third Neighbor” policy (to cultivate ties with countries beyond its two border neighbors to counterbalance their economic and political influence) is connected to its self-interest, but also could serve as a diplomatic bridge by unlocking North Korea as a rail transit route and port to the Pacific for Mongolia’s rich mineral resources...	EWC
	From Neutrality to Pragmatism in Malaysia-North Korea Relations, February 2019. In the late 1960s, North Korea began to reach out to Malaysia to establish diplomatic ties amidst its Cold War-era charm-offensive toward the developing world. The first official visit by representatives of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to Malaysia was a trade delegation led by then External Trade Minister Bak Su Kwon in 1971 to Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (then PERNAS, now PNS) Malaysia’s largest state-owned enterprise (SOE). Subsequently, DPRK’s overseas diplomatic representatives actively sought out Malaysian counterparts (in Cairo, Paris, Belgrade, Jakarta, and Singapore) to convey North Korean government’s wish to establish official ties in early 1973...	EWC
	Pyongyang and India: Strategic Choices on the Korean Peninsula, February 2019. The first visit by the Minister of State for External Affairs of India V.K. Singh to Pyongyang in May 2018 after a gap of 20 years demonstrated New Delhi’s aim to nurture its relationship with North Korea and keep options open to advance its strategic presence in the rapidly evolving environment on the Korean Peninsula. Noting how both India and North Korea could possibly explore cooperation in areas of “mutual interests”, the official statement released after the visit of V.K. Singh iterated India’s support towards the evolving joint peace initiative between the DPRK and the ROK on the Korean Peninsula...	EWC
	Cambodia-North Korea Relations, February 2019. Cambodia is among the five Southeast Asian countries that have an embassy in Pyongyang. The bilateral relationship has fluctuated over time, due to three factors: leadership, economics, and geopolitics. The late King Norodom Sihanouk and Kim Il-sung were the architects of the bilateral relationship after their first encounter at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting in Belgrade in 1961. The relationship flourished from 1965 to early 1990s, as both countries stood on the same side during the Cold War. The new coalition government in Cambodia, established after the UNsupervised general election in 1993, continued to maintain good relations with North Korea, with both sides signing an agreement to create the Cambodia-DPRK Joint Committee to strengthen bilateral ties...	EWC
	The Philippine-US Alliance in 2019, February 2019. At the end of 2018, two developments rocked the alliance between the Philippines and the United States. Delfin Lorenzana, the Philippine secretary of national defense, called for the review of the Mutual Defense Treaty. In the United States, Secretary James Mattis resigned out of principle, to be temporarily replaced by his relatively inexperienced deputy. With US-China competition moving into high gear, coupled with the unstable domestic politics of the two allied countries, a review of the mutual defense treaty will pose a great challenge to alliance management...	EWC
	Latest APEC publications: Recognising Sustainability in Tourism, February 2019 Outcomes and Outlook 2018/2019 APEC at a Glance 2019	APEC
	Demystifying Rising Inequality in Asia, Published 2019. Rising income inequality is a key challenge for policy makers in developing Asia. Income inequality is one of the most profound social, economic, and political challenges of our time. The gap between the rich and the poor has been regarded as a major concern for policy makers. This gap is at its highest level in decades for developed economies, while the inequality trend has been rising in many developing countries. In Asia, despite recent economic growth, income distribution has been worsening as well. This book contributes to the existing literature on inequality in Asia by overviewing the new trend of inequality in Asia and investigating the drivers of rising inequality in various Asian countries.	ADB
	The Future of Work: Regional Perspectives, Published 2018. This study considers how technology is likely to change labor markets in Africa; Developing Asia; Emerging Europe, Central Asia, and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean; and Latin American and the Caribbean in the coming years. Recent technological innovation in fields such as robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence have reduced the number of workers required in a range of sectors, while lowering costs and increasing reliability. This trend has led policy makers, academics, chief executive officers, and entrepreneurs to ask what types of jobs will be most affected, what new skillsets will be needed for the jobs of tomorrow, and how governments can ease the transition. This study identifies concrete policy actions countries in these regions could take to face up to the challenges and seize the opportunities presented by emergent technology. It is a copublication between African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Inter-American Development Bank.	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: The Employment Effects of Technological Innovation, Consumption, and Participation in Global Value Chains: Evidence from Developing Asia, February 2019 Women’s Asset Ownership: Evidence from Georgia; Mongolia; and Cavite, Philippines, February 2019	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Trade, Labor Share, and Productivity in India's Industries, February 2019 A Microeconomic Analysis of the Declining Labor Share in Japan, February 2019 Establishment of the Credit Risk Database: Concrete Use to Evaluate the Creditworthiness of SMEs, February 2019 Impacts of Financial Literacy on the Loan Decisions of Financially Excluded Households in the People's Republic of China, February 2019 Money and Central Bank Digital Currency, February 2019 Improving Subnational Government Development Finance in Emerging and Developing Economies: Toward a Strategic Approach, February 2019 The Labor Share of Income around the World: Evidence from a Panel Dataset, February 2019 Democracy and the Labor Share of Income: A Cross-Country Analysis, January 2019	ADB

February, 2019

	Quad 2.0: New Perspectives for the Revived Concept, February 2019. In late 2017, the revival of an idea over a decade old—the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue—created a wave of debate, concern and anticipation across the world. The Quad, as it is commonly referred to—or, more precisely, Quad 2.0, as this is its second life—is an informal dialogue between four of the world’s major democracies: the US, Japan, Australia and India. Quad 2.0, like Quad 1.0, is a controversial yet important idea that has survived the test of time. The four members’ first major get-together was in December 2004, when they responded to the massive Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in a coordinated multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operation. Following that, in 2007, the first informal meeting between the four happened on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Manila. Soon afterwards, the first naval exercise involving all the Quad members drew Chinese diplomatic protests, after which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pulled Australia out of the exercise. Quad 1.0 fell into lethargy...	ASPI
	Fiscal Management of Reserves in Singapore: An Intergenerational Equity Perspective, September 2018. The pre-dominant discourse around the fiscal management of Singapore’s national reserves is often framed around sustainability. The concept of sustainability is however shaped by how we understand intergenerational equity; what we mean by “fairness” between generations; and what standards we apply to determine if there is indeed “fairness” between generations. This paper reviews current theories on intergenerational equity, and locates the prevailing discourse on fiscal management of the reserves and intergenerational equity in Singapore with these theories...	IPS
	Fake News, False Information and More: Countering Human Biases, September 2018. Despite the various measures adopted by the public, private and people sectors in the past 18 months to counter fake news and various types of disinformation, concerns among the public remain high. According to the 2018 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, over half (54%) agree or strongly agree that they were concerned about what is real and fake on the Internet. This was highest in countries like Brazil (85%), Spain (69%), and the US (64%) where politics are polarised and social media use is high...	IPS
	Community Relations Amidst the Threat of Terror, September 2018. This paper analyses data from a survey funded by Channel NewsAsia (CNA) at MediaCorp in 2017, which examined the views of 2,031 respondents on issues relating to race and religious relations in the context of terrorism. The survey aimed to study how Singaporeans would react following a terror attack in the nation state, perpetrated by groups that used religious labels (either a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu group).1 The survey also asked respondents how long they thought it would take for fellow citizens to remain angry or suspicious of those from the same religion involved in the attack, and the length of time it would take for Singaporeans to feel united as one people...	IPS
	Makan Index 2017: An Indicator for Cost of Eating Out in Singapore, May 2018. In this paper, we introduce the Makan Index as a measure of the cost of eating out. This measure was built on survey data (n = 2,389) collected using a standard set of food items across 26 (URA) planning areas in Singapore, focusing on only three types of eating places: coffee shops, hawker centres and food courts. The Index was then compared across different planning areas and its correlation with socioeconomic characteristics of the planning areas was analysed. The results of this study show that the cost of eating out differs across planning areas...	IPS
	Workfare and Vulnerability in Rural India, Published 2019. Using a unique panel data for rural India for the periods 1999 and 2006 this paper models vulnerability to poverty in the context of local governance and the introduction of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). We quantify household vulnerability in rural India in 1999 and 2006, investigate the determinants of ex post poverty as well as ex ante vulnerability, assess the role of ex ante vulnerability on poverty shift during the sample periods (i.e. movement into/out of poverty) and finally, examine how the effects of the determinants of vulnerability vary at different points across the vulnerability distribution...	ASARC
	Philippine Institute for Development Studies - Research Paper Series: Implementing Sugarcane Block Farming for Increased Farm Income and Productivity, Published 2019 Sustainable Development Goal 5: How Does the Philippines Fare on Gender Equality? Published 2018 The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program After 30 Years: Accomplishments and Forward Options, Published 2018 Measuring and Examining Innovation in Philippine Business and Industry, Published 2018 Results of the Assessment of the Motor Vehicle User's Charge Utilization in the Philippines, Published 2018	PIDS
	Philippine Institute for Development Studies - Development Research News: Higher Educ, Research Orgs Must Embrace Open Access, October-December 2018 Ph Urged to Be Optimistic Toward FIRE, July-September 2018 Farmers Still Struggle to Afford Agri Insurance, April-June 2018 Ph Laws on Women Lack Teeth, January-March 2018	PIDS
	Global Britain and Global Japan: A New Alliance in the Indo-Pacific? January 2019. In January 2019, amidst all the Brexit-related commotion and confusion, British Prime Minister Theresa May took time out to welcome Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to London. Although the media focused on the timing of the visit – not least because of his warning over the consequences of a “no-deal” Brexit and follow-on visit to the Netherlands, where a handful of Japanese companies may relocate or establish satellite offices – this was much more than just a shoring up of one political leader by another. The fact is that Japan and the UK have been moving closer together for over a decade, and not only in the diplomatic-economic sphere. For some time, the two have been deepening their strategic and military cooperation...	EWC
	The Limitations of Summits around the Korean Peninsula, January 2019. After the 2018 Winter Olympics held in South Korea, diplomatic summitry succeeded in pausing North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, alleviating US “maximum pressure,” and reducing regional concerns about military conflict. Yet despite a historic meeting between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June, and three reconciliatory meetings between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, North Korea has made scant progress on denuclearization. In 2019, three different summits are demonstrating the limits of high-level diplomacy around the Korean Peninsula. A North Korea-China summit in January was less about solutions than maintaining influence in a fluid strategic environment...	EWC
	Recognizing Israel Aligns with Indonesia’s Interests, Ambitions, & Constitution, January 2019. In Indonesia’s successful campaign for a UN Security Council nonpermanent membership, it expressed its desire to be a global “bridge-builder” and partner for peace in world affairs. 2019 brings Indonesia, as the world’s largest Muslim-majority state and third-largest democracy heading to national elections in the Spring, an opportunity to expand its Mideast non-aligned foreign policy. Mideast scholar and practitioner, Richard Haass suggests “In the case of Israel and the Palestinians, there is an argument for diplomatic efforts that would aim to keep the situation from deteriorating and to keep alive diplomatic prospects for a more propitious moment or, better yet, to bring such a moment closer” (2017)...	EWC
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #3: Exploring the Trade Potential of the DFTZ for Malaysian SMEs. Malaysia established the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) to facilitate the development of e-commerce and the country’s small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs’) exports. The data revealed thus far indicates an increasing number of SMEs coming on board the DFTZ e-commerce platforms. The publicly disclosed data focus on the value of exports achieved but do not show whether these are from new or existing exporters or whether they are re-exports. They also do not highlight Malaysia’s imports through the zone. The overall trend signals that Malaysia is losing its bilateral revealed comparative advantage in exports to China, as well as an increasing use of imports for exporting to China...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #2: Vietnam’s Industrialization Ambitions: The Case of Vingroup and the Automotive Industry. Vietnam has officially admitted its failure to achieve industrialized economy status by 2020. This failure is partly due to its inability to grow a strong local manufacturing base and develop key strategic industries. The participation of Vingroup, the country’s largest private conglomerate, in the automotive industry has sparked new hopes for Vietnam’s industrialization drive. The company, through its subsidiary Vinfast, aims to become a leading automaker in Southeast Asia with an annual capacity of 500,000 units and a localization ratio of 60 per cent by 2025. Challenges that Vinfast faces include its unproven track record in the industry; the limited size of the national car market; the lack of infrastructure to support car usage in Vietnam...	ISEAS
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2019 #1: Emerging Political Configurations in the Run-up to the 2020 Myanmar Elections. While facing international pressures relating to Rakhine State, and under tense civil–military relations, political parties are preparing for the 2020 Myanmar general elections. The National League for Democracy (NLD), the ruling party, is taking a more democratic platform focusing on the creation of a democratic federal union, while the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) adopts a more nationalist approach, emphasizing the prevention of foreign interference regarding Rakhine State. Taking lessons from the 2015 Myanmar general elections, and in order to effectively contend with the NLD and the USDP, the ethnic political parties are at the same time merging into single parties and new political are now also being registered at the Union Election Commission...	ISEAS
	Economic Indicators for Eastern Asia: Input–Output Tables, December 2018. This publication presents economic statistics relevant for cross-border production arrangements analysis in Hong Kong, China; Japan; Mongolia; the People’s Republic of China; the Republic of Korea; and Taipei,China. This was computed from ADB’s multi-regional input–output database which serves the increasing demand for structured, relevant, timely, and accurate data, especially with the onset of various economic research projects on global value chains...	ADB
	Economic Indicators for Southeastern Asia and the Pacific: Input–Output Tables, December 2018. his publication presents economic statistics relevant for cross-border production arrangements analysis in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, the Lao PDR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. This was computed from ADB’s multi-regional input–output database which serves the increasing demand for structured, relevant, timely, and accurate data, especially with the onset of various economic research projects on global value chains...	ADB
	Latest ADB Publications: The Business of Greening: Policy Measures for Green Business Development in Asia, January 2019 Philippine City Disaster Insurance Pool: Rationale and Design, December 2018 SASEC Vision – Myanmar, Published 2018 Strengthening Functional Urban Regions in Azerbaijan: National Urban Assessment 2017, December 2018 Handbook on Battery Energy Storage System, December 2018 Georgia: Country Gender Assessment, December 2018 Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update, December 2018	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Expected Work Experience: A New Human Capital Measure, January 2019 Potential Use of the Life Satisfaction Approach to Value Nonmarket Good and Services, January 2019 Asian Development Outlook: Forecast Accuracy 2007–2016, January 2019	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: Multi-product Firms, Tariff Liberalization, and Product Churning in Vietnamese Manufacturing, January 2019 Why Is Green Finance Important? January 2019 The Basel Capital Requirement, Lending Interest Rate, and Aggregate Economic Growth: An Empirical Study of Viet Nam, January 2019 Green Finance in Singapore: Barriers and Solutions, January 2019 Productivity and Trade Growth in Services: How Services Helped Power Factory Asia, January 2019 Responses to Trade Opening: Evidence and Lessons from Asia, January 2019 Optimal Regulation of P2P Lending for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, January 2019	ADB
	Latest APEC publications: Trade Facilitation in APEC: Progress and Impact, January 2019 Best Practices of Youth Employment Policies in Selected APEC Economies, October 2018 Fifteen Role Models for Women and Girls in STEM, March 2018	APEC


January, 2019

	Managing Connectivity Conflict: EU-India Cooperation and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, December 2018. Connectivity initiatives are the latest geopolitical tool for advancing influence in international relations and diplomacy. Against the backdrop of an emerging connectivity conflict, the responsibility is on likeminded countries and organizations to promote initiatives that embody transparency and universalism in connectivity projects and that benefit citizens in the long term. The EU and India are two important actors in this regard. This paper analyzes the scope of cooperation in the field of connectivity between the EU and India, arguing that they are two important strategic poles of the current world order with shared interests. Europe and India are key actors of the western and non-western democratic liberal, both aiming to strengthen an “open, transparent and rules-based system of international politics and economics.” Realizing this potential requires candid and engaged strategic and economic exchange between the two sides...	ISDP
	Change and Continuity in Uzbekistan 1991-2016, October 2018. Uzbekistan has entered a dynamic new phase of development. The obvious motivating factor is the transition in presidential leadership, following the death of Founding President Islam Karimov on September 2, 2016, and the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev on December 4, 2016. It is easy, perhaps all too easy, to attribute the change simply to the differences between these two leaders. Some international observers who were critical of what preceded the present changes see today's developments as a sharp break with the past, a radical transformation along fundamentally different lines than what preceded them, a welcome opening to a more market-based and participatory system. Others, who also have little good to say about what came earlier, are quick to conclude that less has changed than meets the eye, and that the many recent reforms are mainly for show...	ISDP
	Hong Kong: High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecasts Current Quarter Model: 2019Q1, January 2019. According to its High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecast, real GDP is estimated to grow by 2.7% in 18Q4, when compared with the same period in 2017, slightly slower than the 2.9% growth in 18Q3. In 19Q1, real GDP growth is expected to moderate to 2.3% when compared with the same period last year. We forecast that Hong Kong GDP will grow by 3.4% in 2018 as a whole, same as our previous forecast. Clouded by the expected economic slowdown in China and US in 2019 brought by the unfolding impact of the US-China trade tension and interest rate hikes, Hong Kong’s GDP growth is expected to show further slowdown to 2.8% in 2019 as a whole...	HKU
	MAS Survey of Professional Forecasters, December 2018. The December 2018 Survey was sent out on 22 November 2018 to a total of 28 economists and analysts who closely monitor the Singapore economy. This report reflects the views received from 23 respondents (a response rate of 82.1%) and does not represent MAS’ views or forecasts. GDP growth in Q3 2018 was in line with expectations. The Singapore economy expanded by 2.2% in Q3 2018 compared with the same period last year, marginally higher than the median forecast of 2.1% reported in the September survey. In the current survey, year-on-year growth in Q4 2018 is expected to come in at 2.4%...	MAS
	MAS Financial Stability Review, November 2018. Tightening global financial conditions have caused capital outflows from the region, and could create further pressures on regional currencies and the debt servicing abilities of sovereigns, corporates and households. Vulnerabilities in emerging market (EM) economies have been exacerbated by global trade tensions. A protracted trade conflict could have wider ramifications on global economic growth through dampened business confidence, investment and productivity. Singapore’s banking system remains resilient despite increased uncertainty. Loan growth was healthy over the past year, while overall asset quality has improved. MAS assesses that domestic credit growth remains in line with economic conditions and does not observe any broad-based domestic credit overheating at this juncture. Hence, MAS will maintain the Countercyclical Capital Buffer (CCyB) at 0%...	MAS
	A Guide to Digital Token Offerings, November 2018. On 1 August 2017, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) clarified that if a digital token constitutes a product regulated under the securities laws administered by MAS, the offer or issue of digital tokens must comply with the applicable securities laws. This paper provides general guidance on the application of the securities laws administered by MAS in relation to offers or issues of digital tokens in Singapore. For purposes of this guide, the securities laws refer to the Securities and Futures Act (Cap. 289) (“SFA”) and the Financial Advisers Act (Cap. 110) (“FAA”)...	MAS
	Principles to Promote Fairness, Ethics, Accountability and Transparency (FEAT) in the Use of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics in Singapore’s Financial Sector, November 2018. This document contains a set of generally accepted Principles for the use of artificial intelligence and data analytics (“AIDA”) in decision-making in the provision of financial products and services. Compared to human decision-making, the nature and the increasing use of AIDA may heighten the risks of systematic misuse. This may result in impacts which are more widespread, perpetuated at greater speed. When used responsibly and effectively, AIDA has significant potential to improve business processes, mitigate risks and facilitate stronger decision-making...	MAS
	Economic Conflict Between America and China: A Truce Declared, the Talks Begin, December 2018. China and the United States are in talks over their so-called trade war, the biggest threat to economic globalisation in decades. While the focus of the dispute has centred on tariffs, the underlying economic issues involved in the talks are both simpler and more complex, less dangerous and more dangerous to the rest of the world, than widely thought. The Trump administration portrays the trade deficit between China and the US as unfair, yet US exports to China since it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 have grown very much faster than China’s exports to the United States. US manufacturing output, said to be devasted by imports from China, has increased strongly over the past decade...	Lowy
	Implications of the Assistance and Access Bill 2018, Decmeber 2018. The Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 and the resulting legislation have been of significant interest to a range of Australian and international stakeholders. In public submissions through the consultation phase, various industry stakeholders and voices raised several concerns about the potential economic implications of the Bill. To better understand the nature of those concerns and how they might be addressed, AustCyber (the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network) asked ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre to develop and conduct an online survey of Australian industry using AustCyber’s database of contacts.	ASPI
	Remaining Plugged into European Defence and Security After Brexit: Australia and Germany, Decmeber 2018. The UK will leave the EU in March 2019. This will have long-lasting implications not only for both the UK and the EU’s remaining member states but also for third countries that have close ties to the continent, such as Australia. To remain plugged into European security and defence after Brexit, Canberra will need to develop stronger ties with other European partners to replicate the strong bonds it has with London. Particularly as a proponent of the international rules-based order, Australia should engage more with like-minded European partners such as Germany to address challenges to that order...	ASPI
	Two Kinds of Conservatives in Japanese Politics and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Tactics to Cope with Them, December 2018. Shinzo Abe won the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election in September 2018, securing his third term both as leader of the party and as prime minister. How has Abe — an avowedly nationalistic and right-wing politician in terms of his political ideology — been able to maintain his grip on power for 6 years? To understand his exceptionally long administration (only three other Japanese prime ministers have reached the five-year mark), we must distinguish between two contrasting types of conservatives in the LDP and examine how Abe has maneuvered to integrate those two conservative trends...	EWC
	The United States Reasserts Trade Rule-Making through USMCA and Challenges CPTPP, December 2018. The announcement on October 1, 2018, that an agreement had been reached on a new United States–Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) came as a shock to all members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) except Mexico and Canada. It was particularly shocking for Japan which had led efforts to bring the CPTPP to fruition. New provisions included in the USMCA trilateral accord, such as those related to currency manipulation, imply that the USMCA has dethroned the CPTPP as the most modern trade agreement. The conclusion of the USMCA signifies that the United States is reasserting itself as a trade rule-maker, although the process to achieve that agreement has been publically contentious...	EWC
	The United States Military’s Perspective on the Okinawan Gubernatorial Elections, November 2018. On September 30, 2018, Denny Tamaki, the son of an Okinawan woman and estranged US Marine, won the Okinawa gubernatorial race. Tamaki ran on the same anti-base expansion platform as his predecessor, the deceased Governor Takeshi Onaga. This election made global headlines because it was center stage to the tumultuous triad relationship between the United States, the central government of Japan, and the prefectural administration of Okinawa...	EWC
	Trends in Southeast Asia 2018 #22: The Perak Sultanate: Transitioning into the 21st Century. Although Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s earlier government (1981–2003) limited the powers and privileges of Malaysia’s nine hereditary rulers, the political influence that they could exercise was still evident in the “Perak Crisis” of 2009, which also generated public debate about royal rights. In recent years, public wariness in Malaysia about politicians has helped the rulers present themselves as alternative sources of authority. “Monarchical activism” has been especially evident in the state of Perak, dating from 1984 when Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, who was until then Malaysia’s Lord President, was installed as the thirty-fourth ruler. In 2014, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah...	ISEAS
	Hmong Studies Journal, Vol. 19, Issues 1 and 2, 2018	HSJ
	Latest ADB Publications: Avoiding the Middle-Income Trap in Asia: The Role of Trade, Manufacturing, and Finance, Published 2018 Pacific Economic Monitor, December 2018 Managing Water Resources for Sustainable Socioeconomic Development: A Country Water Assessment for the People’s Republic of China, December 2018 Investment in Research and Development for Basmati Rice in Pakistan, December 2018 Asian Development Outlook 2018 Supplement: The Outlook Firms as Trade Conflict Pauses, December 2018 Three Features of Aging in the People’s Republic of China and Implications for Development Agenda, November 2018	ADB
	Latest ADBI Working Paper Series: The Role of SMEs in Asia and Their Difficulties in Accessing Finance, December 2018 Assessing Opportunities for Solar Lanterns to Improve Educational Outcomes in Rural Off-Grid Regions: Challenges and Lessons from a Randomized Controlled Trial, December 2018 Marketing: The Crucial Success Factor for Pakistan’s Credit Guarantee Scheme, December 2018 Services Policies and Manufacturing Exports, December 2018 A Comprehensive Method for the Credit Risk Assessment of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Based on Asian Data, December 2018 Local Financial Development, Access to Credit and SMEs’ Performance: Evidence From Bangladesh, December 2018 Credit Risk Analysis of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Based on Thai Data, December 2018 Oil Price Fluctuations, Creditworthiness of the Financial System, and SME Financing in Kazakhstans, December 2018 Restrictiveness of Services Trade Policy and the Sustainable Development Goals, December 2018 The Servicification of Manufacturing in Asia: Redefining the Sources of Labor Productivity, December 2018 Does the Exposure to Routinization Explain the Evolution of the Labor Share of Income? Evidence from Asia, December 2018 Technology, Market Regulations, and Labor Share Dynamics, December 2018 A Model for Utilizing Spillover Taxes and Community-Based Funds to Fill the Green Energy Financing Gap in Asia, December 2018 Impacts of Fiscal Policy on Green Technologies Transfer, November 2018 Green Finance in the Republic of Korea: Barriers and Solutions, November 2018 The Bank of Japan's Super-Easy Monetary Policy From 2013–2018, November 2018 Institutions, Deindustrialization, and Functional Income Distribution in Japan, November 2018 What Explains the Increase in the Labor Income Share in Malaysia? November 2018	ADB
	Latest ADB Working Paper Series: Household Debt, Corporate Debt, and the Real Economy: Some Empirical Evidence, December 2018 The Impact of Trade Conflict on Developing Asia, December 2018 Improving Paddy Rice Statistics Using Area Sampling Frame Technique, November 2018	ADB
	Latest APEC publications: Refrigerator/Freezer Energy Efficiency Improvement in the APEC Region: Review of Experience and Best Practices, November 2018 Trainings in Renewable Energy Best-Practices: Procurement, Contracts, Lifecycle Cost Analyses, and Risk Mitigation to Mobilize Private Investment, December 2018 APEC Nearly (Net) Zero Energy Building Roadmap, November 2018 Developing a Best Practice Global Value Chain (GVC) Framework for Fisheries Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), December 2018 Case Studies of Successful Women Entrepreneurs in the ICT Industry in 21 APEC Economies, November 2018 Women’s Economic Empowerment and ICT: Capacity Building for APEC Women’s Entrepreneurs in the Age of the 4th Industrial Revolution – Seminar Highlights and Policy Recommendations, November 2018 Trends and Developments in Provisions and Outcomes of RTA/FTAs Implemented in 2017 by APEC Economies, December 2018 Profiles of ICT Business and Women Entrepreneurs in APEC Economies, November 2018 Promoting Cross-border E-Trade Under the Framework of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) / Free Trade Agreements (FTAs): Best Practices in the APEC Region, December 2017 2018 Key APEC Documents	APEC