Eight officials from eight ASEAN countries involved in health care and pension systems shared their experience in establishing social security programs at a workshop hosted by ADBI in Jakarta on 7–9 March. The event aimed to encourage fiscal policies that promote government health care and social spending programs. Indonesia's Assistant Minister of Finance for State Expenditure Purwiyanto delivered the keynote address, while ADBI Deputy Dean Bokhwan Yu and Indonesia's Ministry of Finance Budget Director General Askolani delivered the opening remarks. Read more.

ADBI Dean Naoyuki Yoshino signed agreements with the CFA Institute’s managing director for Asia and the Pacific, Nick Pollard, for wide-ranging collaboration to improve education and professional standards in banking, finance, and investment management. Think-Asia content will also be syndicated on the Asia-Pacific Research Exchange. CFA Institute is a sponsor of the Global Summit of 100 think tanks being organized by ADBI at Yokohama in the immediate lead up to ADB's 50th annual meeting.

Governments should control spending and maintain fiscal discipline in the face of rapidly aging populations, policy makers urged at a workshop held by ADBI and the Japan Ministry of Finance’s Policy Research Institute (PRI) on 28 March. They discussed past and current age-related social security systems in Japan and lessons for Asian countries, examined current age-related social security systems elsewhere in Asia, and recommended policies. ADBI Dean Naoyuki Yoshino chaired the event and PRI President Yoichi Nemoto and other ministry officials participated. Read more. Read more.

Green energy and transportation key to development, ADBI workshop stresses
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research, Jeju International Training Center, and ADBI shared knowledge on green energy and green transportation policies. Held in Jeju, Republic of Korea on 21–23 March, the training stressed that properly managing megacities’ energy and transportation systems is key to shaping development in Asia and the Pacific. Participants also discussed promoting green energy, planning cities, developing infrastructure, and managing transportation, among others. Read more.

Reduce yen deposits, ADBI advises Japan’s banks
Japan’s banks need to reduce yen deposits and instead attract foreign currency deposits for overseas investment to minimize risk, said ADBI Dean Naoyuki Yoshino at the Japanese Regulatory Summit 2017 hosted by Thomson Reuters in Tokyo on 7 March. He also encouraged regional financial institutions to sell mutual funds or create hometown investment funds that can be invested in startups and small and medium-sized enterprises. Read more.

Credit guarantees and startup finance can help SMEs, say ADBI and Thailand’s credit bureau
Credit guarantee schemes and hometown investment trust funds can expand lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), said ADBI Dean Naoyuki Yoshino at a workshop organized with Thailand’s National Credit Bureau (NCB) in Bangkok on 14–15 March. Around 150 participants from 13 Asian countries examined issues related to credit databases, credit ratings and analyses, guarantee schemes, and innovative financing to promote financial access to SMEs and startups. Deputy Dean Bokhwan Yu and NCB Chief Executive Officer Surapol Opasatein recommended ways to reduce the SME credit gap. Read more.

• Tax and Corruption
  12-13 April 2017; Sydney, Australia
• ADBI/ADB Conference: 20 Years after the Asian Financial Crisis: Lessons, Challenges, and the Way Forward
  13-14 April 2017; Tokyo, Japan
• Cultural Industries
  19 April 2017; Tokyo, Japan
• Global Think Tank Summit 2017
  1-3 May 2017; Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan

>> More ADBI events

• ADBI-IDB-WTO Conference on Trade Adjustment
• Second Annual Conference of the Japan Economy Network
• ADBI-World Economy Workshop on Globalization and the Environment
• Asia and the Pacific Economies

>> More calls for papers

• The Brief for Cash
• Why is Income Distributed Unequally? A Comparison of Japan and the United States
• Hometown investment trust funds: A sustainable solution for financing green energy projects

>> More posts

• Increasing Infrastructure Investment with Spillover Tax Revenues
• Fiscal Policy and Poverty Reduction
• Obesity in Asia and the Pacific: Facts, Consequences, and Policies for Better Health
• Trade Finance and Economic Development

>> More videos

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Global Shocks and Risk to Financial Stability in Asia

While important lessons can be learned from periods of financial instability, changes in the international financial landscape bring new challenges that need to be analyzed and incorporated into policy strategies. Asian emerging market economies have recovered relatively well from the Great Recession of 2008–2009. Emerging Asia has been successful in maintaining both macroeconomic and financial stability in a turbulent global environment. Read more and download.

Ultra-Low Interest Rates, Overinvestment, and Growth in Emerging East Asia

The decline of foreign reserves in emerging East Asia, which had been rising since the turn of the millennium, reflects the reversal of these international capital flows. Business cycles and growth dynamics in emerging East Asia are explored within an ultra-low interest rate environment from the perspective of the monetary overinvestment theories of Mises and Hayek. Read more and download.

Salvaging the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Building Blocks for Regional and Multilateral Trade Opening?

United States (US) withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a setback for multilateral trade opening in the 21st century, but the TPP could still be useful for negotiating a new trade agenda. High hopes that the TPP would open up trade across the Pacific were dashed by the decision of the new US Government under President Trump to withdraw from the agreement in January 2017. Read more and download.

Different Faces of Inequality across Asia: Decomposition of Income Gaps across Demographic Groups

Education, geographic location, and household composition are important drivers of economic inequality. Substantial evidence exists that economic inequality in Asia has been growing, but the dimensions of this inequality and its growth are far less clear. The authors evaluate inequality in household incomes per capita across various demographic groups in income surveys from six middle- and high-income countries across Asia. Read more and download.

Exchange Rates, International Trade, and Growth: Re-evaluation of Undervaluation

Less integrated trading partners usually bear the cost of trade balance expansion. The authors show that regional trade integration shifts the burden of the exchange rate adjustment towards the less integrated trading partners. Read more and download.

Corporate Pension Plans and Investment Choices: Bargaining or Conforming?

Defined-benefit pension plans affect firms’ decisions on capital expenditure and choice of investment industries and locations. The impacts of defined-benefit (DB) pension plans on the corporate investment choices between diversifying and non-diversifying investments are examined. Read more and download.

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