This incisive book offers a compelling analysis of Turkey’s political transformation over the past two decades. It unpacks the puzzle of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s enduring rule, challenging prevailing assumptions about authoritarianism and political longevity.
Introducing the concept of the politics of attraction, Hazama situates Turkey within a broader comparative context of emerging democracies. Drawing on rigorous, data-driven research, the book explains how economic performance, social protection, and potent rhetoric combined to sustain Erdoğan’s popularity. It shows that Turkey’s drift toward authoritarianism is better understood as a consequence rather than a cause of the Justice and Development Party’s declining electoral dominance. By illuminating the mechanics of dominant-party systems, the nexus between economic performance and political support, and the pathways from democracy to authoritarianism, this book provides fresh theoretical and empirical insights.
A vital resource for scholars and students of political science, international relations, and public policy, it will also be indispensable to policymakers and diplomats seeking to understand and engage with this pivotal geopolitical actor.

This timely book examines Japan’s foreign policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean in response to emerging global challenges, in particular the escalating US–China rivalry.
Kanako Yamaoka and Gabriel Garcia evaluate the methods by which Japan is attempting to forge partnerships and uphold the rule of law within the international order. They assess Japan’s soft-balancing strategy, analyzing its use of non-military tools to counter China’s growing influence. These methods include reinforcing alliances through hard-law mechanisms such as regional organizations and free trade agreements, as well as integrating Latin America and the Caribbean into Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision. The authors explore both the hard and soft alliances in six key case studies from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru. They also outline the diverse responses from Latin America and the Caribbean, with many governments adopting a hedging approach to maximize the benefits from both Japan and China.
This book is a crucial resource for scholars and students of international relations, political economy, and economic law, particularly those with a regional focus on Asia–Latin America relations. Providing contextual understanding of regional dynamics, it is also beneficial for business professionals with interests in trade and investment.

This book offers a compelling analysis of Malaysia’s path to sustained economic growth and social stability, illuminating how the country navigated the complex challenges of industrialization, ethnic diversity, and inequality. Spanning six decades of development from the 1960s to the 2020s, the book integrates rigorous economic analysis with nuanced political insights to present a comprehensive account of Malaysia’s transformation.
Through detailed examination of industrial upgrading, productivity growth, and policy implementation, the book reveals how Malaysia balanced rural development with urbanization and economic expansion with ethnic harmony. Unlike many developing nations that prioritized industrialization at the expense of rural sectors, Malaysia pursued a dual-track strategy—supporting both agriculture and industry while managing labor transitions across sectors.
Central to this success was Malaysia’s competitive authoritarian political system, which enabled decisive policy shifts at critical junctures. The book explores how this governance model facilitated the country’s transition from a primary commodity exporter to a diversified industrial economy, while actively addressing ethnic economic disparities. Essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners in development economics, political economy, and Asian studies, this work provides unique insights into the policy choices and institutional dynamics that shaped Malaysia’s development trajectory. It offers valuable lessons for other multi-ethnic middle-income countries seeking sustainable growth.

Transforming Poor Economies expertly proposes effective strategies for the development of agriculture and industry within lower income countries in continents such as Africa and Asia using insightful case studies to illustrate key findings.

This book aims to investigate the global value chain (GVC) from a viewpoint of industrial development and examine how GVC participation, upgrading, and connectivity have affected structural transformation in developing economies. It first reviews the indexes to measure progresses in GVC participation and upgrading. Then it examines factors affecting these progresses, using original measures of connectivity, which are computed based on the complex network theory. Another distinguished feature of the study is its in-depth analyses on the relationship between economic development and GVC participation based on the hypothesis of nonlinear relationship which is drawn from authors past studies on Asian economies. Major findings include (1) inverted-U shaped relationship between backward participation and income levels, (2) U shaped relationship between forward participation and income level, (3) marginal but significant impacts of maritime and aviation connectivity on GVC participation, (4) significant and different roles of basic and advanced education on the upgrading in GVCs, and (5) the importance of technological intensities in export in sustaining economic growth.

This is the first book that analyzes the growth of the Peruvian fresh fruit and vegetable (FFV) export industry from the view point of the industrial development. Instead of pointing out comparative advantages in production factors such as favorable climate and cheap labor, this book focuses on the strategies of agribusiness companies, industrial organizations, and the public sector in the FFV export industry. The analysis is based on the theoretical frameworks of coordination, integration, and upgrades in value chains, business strategies to overcome seasonality and mitigate risks in agriculture, and cluster development based on joint actions among players in the industry. Based on the field studies with major FFV production and export companies and industrial organizations, the case studies describe specific innovations in management and organizations taken by key actors in the industry. This book can help policymakers in developing countries seek industrial development options based on agricultural exports.

Bill Pritchard provides an important update on how current trade methodologies are implemented as China becomes one of the world’s largest fresh fruit importers from countries such as Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The book also looks at their distinctive trade aspects and what can be learnt from alternative practices carried out in other countries through the use of global production networks. An in-depth analysis provides the reader with a welcome insight into existing processes from production through to export, often through informal routes, with a marketing structure providing more power to the distributors and brokers and mixed effects on the farmers. Using empirical evidence from four countries, this book explores what could, and should, be implemented in this under-researched topic to aid rural development.
This will be an invaluable resource for researchers of human geography, international trade and Asian studies, particularly those with a focus on Southeast Asia and China.

This book examines the complex and connected past, present, and future of Northeast India and Japan. It looks at the intricate political geography and ethnolinguistic diversity of India’s Northeast, and its historical and strategic relationship between Japan.
From the theatre of the Second World War to a potential economic corridor to the Indo-Pacific, the Northeast, which shares a border with China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar, has emerged as an area of central importance in India–Japan relations. The book highlights the importance of connectivity and cooperation in the North Eastern Region, for sustainable growth, better accessibility, and quality of life. The chapters in the volume look at shared economic, socio-political, and environmental concerns of the two countries as well as the shared legacies between Japan and the Northeast through stories, collective memories and memorials about World War II, and research. They also explore the strategic implications of China’s One Belt One Road initiative in the region and for India–Japan relations, India’s Act-East policy, provincial politics and ethnic conflicts, and the challenges for sustainable development and greater cooperation for the two countries.
With contributions from both Indian and Japanese academics, this book will be a key resource on understanding Asian politics. It will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics and international relations, strategic studies, development studies, and Asian studies.

This book demonstrates the flow of the international trade of secondhand goods and examines the socio-economic background and mechanisms of the trade. It highlights the actors involved in the trade of secondhand goods and how traditionally secondhand good have largely been traded through social or ethnic networks in order to effectively transfer quality and market information. The development of information technology and emergence of new information platforms have changed these business models. The policies and regulations relating to the trade of secondhand goods are explored, alongside the negative impact of these trades, and the growing awareness of the circular economy. This book illustrates how importing countries as well as international institutions have developed regulations in order to balance these two issues. It will relevant to students and economists interested in development economics and economics geography.

This open access book offers unique in-depth, comprehensive, and comparative analyses of the motivations, context, and outcomes of recent land reforms in Africa. Whereas a considerable number of land reforms have been carried out by African governments since the 1990s, no systematic analysis on their meaning has so far been conducted. In the age of land reform, Africa has seen drastic rural changes. Analysing the relationship between those reforms and change, the chapters in this book reveal not only their socio-economic outcomes, such as accelerated marketisation of land, but also their political outcomes, which have often been contrasting. Countries such as Rwanda and Mozambique have utilised land reform to strengthen state control over land, but other countries, such as Ghana and Zambia, have seen the rise in power of traditional chiefs in managing the land. The comparative perspective of this book clarifies new features of African social changes, which are carefully investigated by area experts. Providing new perspectives on recent land reform, this book will have a considerable impact on scholars as well as policymakers.

This book focuses on the spread of public and private environmental and food safety regulations from Europe and North America to Asia and Africa. It explores the growth of policy diffusion and standard alignment on sustainability observed in non-Western follower countries in a globalizing world.
The book examines the role of both developed and developing non-Western countries as followers that adopt food safety, environmental and sustainability policies under different conditions to those of the originating country. Chapters analyze non-state forms of transnational regulation, and how these have diffused to non-Western countries. They showcase how standard alignment efforts lead to multiple localized regulations determined by specific circumstances, highlighting the dilemma in designing policy in an era of globalization.
The use of in-depth case studies by renowned experts will make this book an important read for political science and economics scholars interested in trade, standards and international regulation. Policy-makers concerned with issues of sustainability in follower countries will find the book’s lessons on how to adapt policies helpful.

This unique book traces the origins and evolution of environmental policy formation, comparing the differences in this process between developing and developed countries. It focuses on the importance of the state’s role and issues of timing and sequence in the creation of environmental policies.
Expert contributors provide new insights into how the environment as a concept and environmental policies have evolved. They analyze how ‘latecomer public policy’ is related to the dilemma between industrial development and maintaining high environmental standards, especially in developing countries. Chapters also examine these processes in a variety of regions with rich records of environmental policies and trajectories of change. Taking a historical and path dependence approach, the book emphasizes the significance of the role of administrative systems, policy coordination, and timing in the success or failure of environmental policies.
This book will be a valuable resource for academics and students of environmental studies, public policy, public administration, and regional studies. Its synthesis of empirical data and case studies from countries including China, Taiwan, Thailand, the US, and Germany will also be beneficial for policymakers.

This book explores the ways in which the urban poor population of Brazil participates in social movements. This study focuses on their agency, analyzing the interactive relationship between the urban poor in collective actions and the structural change represented by the participatory administration, which primarily saw implementation and institutionalization in Brazil at the beginning of the 21st century. Ryohei Konta argues that, as the structure of the participatory administration is more actively implemented and institutionalized, social movements will benefit from increased political opportunities. This result encourages the urban poor to participate in social movements as a means to realize their interests. Participation in social movements also stimulates their action with intention and capability (agency), which collectively interacts with the structure of increased opportunities (participatory administration), leading to self-fulfillment and more frequent participation in social movements. Scholars of sociology, Latin American studies, economics, social movements, and urban development will find this book particularly useful.

This book applies interactive perspectives, which have historically mainly been discussed in the context of Western European countries, to case studies on water governance in Asia. It examines how these perspectives can be used to reveal complex and dynamic interactions in water governance in Asia, and how interactions between policies and practices, as well as those between formal institutes and emerging informal institutes, come to pass. In two introductory chapters and seven case studies in Asia (two from China, and each one from Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and India), the book reveals the interactive forms currently emerging in Asia under hierarchical but often fragmented administrative systems.
In addition, it explores emerging hybrid forms of interactive governance, which bring together governmental and non-governmental actors, and discusses how the expected role of government and roles of non-governmental actors could be changed to solve problems in a more cooperative manner. In this context, researchers from outside the locality could play an important role, helping facilitate such forms of interactive governance.
The book offers extensive information on the essential features of interactive forms, and on the role of such transdisciplinary approaches, making it a valuable resource not only for scholars and university students, but also for policymakers and grass-roots practitioners directly involved in the interactive process of water governance.

This book rethinks gubernatorial effects on national politics using the case of the Argentine Senate. Simultaneously analyzing senatorial behavior in committees and on the floor, Kikuchi argues that senators strategically change their actions according to stages in the legislative process, and that longstanding governors may influence national politics, causing their senators to shelve unwanted presidential bills at the committee stage. He explains senatorial behavior focusing on varieties in the combinations of principals, whose preferences senators must take into account, and shows that legislators under the same electoral system do not necessarily behave in the same way. He also demonstrates that this argument can be applied to cases from other federal countries, such as Brazil and Mexico. Based on rich qualitative evidence and quantitative data, the book offers a theoretical framework for understanding how some governors may influence national politics.

This is the first book dedicated to the scrutinization of Myanmar's unofficial foreign exchange market, its roots in restrictive administrative controls on foreign exchange and international trade, and its effects on the country’s economic performance. This book integrates vast pieces of records and data with first-hand information from extensive fieldwork to create an overall picture of the chaotic but seemingly efficient foreign exchange market in Myanmar, a transitional economy in Southeast Asia whose economic systems had been less known due to its isolation until recently. This book illustrates how the unofficial foreign exchange market emerged during the country’s transition to a market-based economy, how informal currency deals proliferated under restrictive controls, and why they persist despite the significant economic reforms since 2011. Refuting the conventional wisdom of foreign exchange policy reforms, this research clarifies path-dependent features of foreign exchange market systems, and it discusses possible solutions for modernizing economic systems. This book is highly recommended to readers who seek an in-depth analytical narrative about informal economic activities and foreign exchange policy reforms in a fragile state.

The book attempts to identify a way in which the urban poor people participate in social movements, which the previous studies has overlooked. The study analyzes the interactive relationships between the urban poor in collective actions and the participatory governance, which is one of the structural changes in Brazil since the democratization in 1985, addressing the agency of the urban poor including the elderly people. The author conducted the field researches on housing movements in São Paulo during the first decade of the 2000s, when mainly the administrations of Workers’ Party (PT) was implementing and institutionalizing the participatory governance in Brazil. This book is the result of these researches in about 10 years, and also a reality of the struggles for better life by the poor population in São Paulo, the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere (The book in Portuguese).

This book is a comprehensive analysis of Turkish foreign policy through the concept of “middle power”. The author explores why and how Turkey has constructed middle power identity based on liberal foreign policies, in order to illuminate the change in post-Cold War Turkish state identity in relation to foreign policy behaviors.

The author further explores state identity and how changes of circumstances, norms, state self-perception, and the perceptions of others effects that identity. This is done first through a policy analysis of Turgut Özal, Necmettin Erbakan and İsmail Cem and second through an examination of AKP’s foreign policy experiences and ideas, especially in relation to Ahmet Davutoğlu.

This book sheds light on the dollarization trends of four transitional economies in Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Moving beyond the tendency to focus on the Latin American experience of dollarization and prolonged high inflation, the chapters in this book compare how payment dollarization has been more persistent than other types of dollarization in this region due to network externalities. The book illustrates that dollarization started in the underdeveloped financial system in these countries and that dollarization interacted with financial development, which is in contrast to dollarization in Latin America. This project extends the frontiers of empirical studies on dollarization. It will be of interest to students, researchers and policy makers concerned with dollarization and economics in Southeast Asia.

This book focuses on Iran to explore the question of how the nature of industrial organizations and the whole system they constitute can exert a great influence on an industry’s competitiveness and resilience. The author examines what happens if firms and companies participating in the manufacturing and distribution process of a certain product are not organized to a high degree and operate independently. The book begins with an inquiry into the historical environment of Iran’s apparel industry, which has never been stable. It then reveals the specific practices that enable firms to maintain their independent business, and argues that the elastic state of the production and distribution system has worked for the survival of self-reliant member firms.

The typical Iranian apparel firm persists in maintaining independent operations regardless of its size, a practice that is inimical to the development of long-lasting business relations with other firms as well as to vertical integration between firms, in all stages from production to distribution. A distinguishing feature of Iran’s apparel industry is that the member firms are barely organized compared with their counterparts in advanced industrialized countries. Despite such a weakly organized system, generally small-scale but self-reliant Iranian firms courageously persist in the face of the market’s difficulties.

Superficially, it appears that Iran’s apparel market is being filled with Chinese goods, but the reality is somewhat different. Apparel firms that are currently doing business with China but are ready to terminate it at any time are taking advantage of newly emerging opportunities to ensure the survival of their own businesses. Reopening those businesses for domestic operations remains an ever-present possibility for them.

This book evaluates the evolution of regulatory policy in advanced countries and discusses how, due to globalization, policy changes in one country have a knock-on effect in others. Separated in two parts, the first half focuses on policy in developed countries and regulatory diffusion from Europe to Asia. The second part looks at the business impact of policy developments in a number of Southeast Asian countries. Key chapters discuss Thailand's response to EU chemical regulations, the diffusion of private food standards, and the effect of chemical safety standards in Malaysia and Vietnam. These contributions are written by leading scholars in the field and the book is likely to be of interest to students, researchers and policy makers concerned with regulation changes in East Asia.

This book sheds new light on the advancement of various industries in developing Asian countries through an application and re-examination of catch-up industrialization theory. With contributors presenting their own perspectives on the progression of a range of different industries in Asia, this volume provokes readers to reconsider their current understanding of industrialization in latecomer countries. More specifically, the chapters discuss Taiwan's semiconductor industry, Korea's steel industry, and Malaysia's palm oil industry, amongst others. The authors also explore the 'catch-down' innovation strategy in China and India. Varieties and Alternatives of Catching-up provides a thorough analysis of the strategies employed by numerous Asian countries to radically transform their low-income agricultural economies to middle-income industrialized ones. This book is essential reading for researchers and scholars interested in Asian economic development.

This study explores why democratization does not necessarily result in inequality reduction in emerging democracies and reveals the determinants of income inequality in emerging democracies, where the average level of inequality continues to be higher and where there is a larger variance of inequality levels than in advanced democracies. Apart from economic, demographic, and social factors, the book highlights political factors that obstruct redistributive policies. In contrast to conventional studies on advanced democracies, which emphasize the relations between different classes, this study asserts that several political factors cause malfunctioning of democratic institutions at various phases of the political process in emerging democracies: multidimensional preferences, the failure of the political market, and weak state capacity. The book employs econometric methods to examine the effects of these political factors. The results indicate their significant effects. The multilevel analysis using the World Values Survey demonstrates that multidimensional preferences, operationalized as ethnic fractionalization, weaken demand for income inequality. Political market quality and state capacity are measured by the age of the largest opposition party, and the Quality of Government indicator is used for the unbalanced panel analysis covering the 1985–2012 period for 75 democracies. Both political market quality and state capacity reduce inequality, but the latter takes more time to show its effect.

The shift in the labour force from agriculture to the manufacturing sector in India has not been a smooth process. Although the manufacturing sector has seen an increase in employment, the share of the manufacturing sector in total employment has not changed and rural areas are continuing to endure unemployment problems. Industrial Clusters, Migrant Workers, and Labour Markets in India examines the evident mismatch between the supply and demand in the labour force through the prism of; employment conditions for migrant workers, the impact of industrialization as part of industrial clusters upon surrounding and outlying villages, and the labour market in industrial clusters. Finally this book uses the cases of two newly developed industrial clusters: Ludhiana in Punjab and Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu to investigate current state of employment. Its findings conclude that unattractive wages and working conditions are the main reasons for the labour shortage in both clusters. This book is a key resource for researchers working in the field of development economics, labour economics and the Indian economy.

India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world but high economic growth has been accompanied by social stratification and widening economic disparity between states. This study provides a comprehensive picture of uneven growth and development within regions in India. Inclusive growth, broadly defined as rapid growth benefiting every section of society, has been the main strategy pursued by the present government of India. While the existing literature on inclusive growth tends to examine the trend and extent of economic inequality over years, or discusses inclusive growth in a wide range of social and economic areas, this book, building on the findings of Inclusiveness in India: A Strategy for Growth and Equality, critically examines inclusive growth and development by paying particular attention to widening disparities between regions, and social and economic stratifications. An team of renowned scholars bring together a wealth of research to illustrates the important aspects of underdevelopment and the process by which the underclass has been left behind through focusing on the country's most neglected regions. Based on original surveys and fieldwork, individual chapters focus on critical issues such as; agricultural underdevelopment; economic growth and increasing intrastate disparity; the process and impact of migration, both at place of origin and destination; and administrative constraints to the implementation of pro-poor policies. In so doing, the book suggests how inclusive growth aimed at distributing the benefits of development to disadvantaged sections of society can be achieved.

For much of the 20th century, Islamic politics appeared to lie beyond the pale of legitimate politics in many Muslim-majority states. This book brings about a more a serious understanding of Islamic politics by critically tracing the pathways by which Islamic politics has been transformed in the Middle East and Asia. Through the exploration of dissent and power it argues that Islamic politics had not been encased in ineffectual dissent even before the 'Arab Spring' took the Middle-East closer to historical trends of democratization elsewhere in the world. The findings from country-specific studies of Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia and Turkey demonstrate that Islamic politics has developed a large and resilient capacity for adaptation and reinvention not only in the Middle-East but in Asia as well. Moreover, the international spectrum of Islamic politics stretches from marginalized dissent to established government with political parties and movements competing to different degrees of success for power, frequently by electoral means. This study traces and explains the collective progression of Islamic politics between points of dissent and positions of power, a subject that has not been directly or systematically covered by the extensive literature on Islam and politics.

The diversification of economic structure is a central issue in economic development particularly for low-income countries. In the past many countries began industrialization with labor-intensive industries, typically the textile and garment industry. This study examines increasing concerns over the sustainability of growth and the degradation in working conditions throughout the ongoing globalization and trade liberalization. It explores the means through which the garment industry contributes to industrialization, poverty reduction, empowerment of undereducated workers, in particular female laborers, and shared growth in contemporary low-income countries. Through seven in-depth studies of countries - Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Madagascar, Myanmar, Pakistan, Vietnam and a cross-country study - it demonstrates dynamism in the industry which successfully leads to growth under the trade liberalization. The Garment Industry in Low-Income Countries provides evidence against the argument that the garment industry is a static and non-innovative activity, and even a 'dead-end sector of industrialization.' It demonstrates heterogeneity within and across countries in terms of growth performance, productivity, and product upgrading. It also explores conditions of the labor market with respect to wages and female labor participation, access to the export markets and business environment across different countries. By incorporating the diverse experiences in seven countries, this text provides a broader range of implications of the development of the garment industry on industrial dynamism in low-income countries.

It is a conventional belief that the Chinese industrial economy is dominated by large state-owned enterprises closely connected with political power. While this perception is correct for some industries, such as petroleum refinery, this fascinating book, edited by Mariko Watanabe, presents us with a vivid picture of another side of the economy, where smaller enterprises specializing in separate modular products compete with each other on the basis of a common platform, contributing to its dynamism. The book combines fresh theories and hypotheses, derived from intimate field work, with empirical testing. This is certainly an eye-opening work for everyone interested in the future of the Chinese economy.’ – Masahiko Aoki, Stanford University, US In the past two decades, China has experienced rapid industrial and economic growth. This fascinating book explores the unique Chinese business strategy of vigorous market entry and low prices, which has been the key feature of this accelerated industrial growth.

A third of poor people are disabled in the developing world. How much do we know about their livelihood with hard data? Are they entirely powerless and dependent on family members? How do they earn income? These questions have become more important than ever, now that persons with disabilities (PWDs) in developing countries have awakened to rights and entitlements and that the international community started considering the incorporation of disability into the context of poverty reduction. This book highlights opportunities and challenges faced by PWDs in the developing countries. This book also illustrates the analyses with a case study which was conducted in the Philippines and this case study has made a good progress in legislation for PWDs. A field survey was jointly conducted by the Institute of Developing Economies, Japan, and the Philippine Institute for Development Studies in Metro Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, in 2008. Around 400 PWDs were interviewed, and the data was investigated with econometrics. The book highlights a remarkable disparity in earnings and education among PWDs. The book also examines the positive role of organizations such as Disabled People’s Organizations and how empowerment of PWDs is made through dissemination of useful information such as programs given by the central and local governments. The book concludes that all measures, i.e. education, training, DPOs and institutional preferences, must be mobilized harmoniously to boost the livelihood of PWDs sinking in the bottom stratum in income.

The importance of community-based and participatory approaches to rural development in developing countries has long been emphasized. Rural people, who are economically and politically weak as individuals, can only participate in development projects when they are collectively organized. However, this is no easy task. This book aims to identify the mechanisms in each local society through which rural people can best organize themselves to meet their development requirements. It stresses the need to find local mechanisms that motivate and control the members of a new organization in order to achieve organizational goals.

Pioneering study in the field of seasonality-adjusted flexible micro-credit Employs observational data and randomized control experiment techniques to address the key research questions Numerous potential policy implications, such as the designing of typical micro-credit schemes, of relevance to practitioners, think tanks and policy makers The mismatch between credit repayments and income seasonality can create serious distortions. However, typically Micro-Finance Institutes (MFIs) do not provide any adjustments due to the income seasonality. For instance in Northern Bangladesh, Income and consumption downfalls during the time of post-Aman rice plantation seasons are quite regular phenomenon which is locally known as “Monga”. Poor landless agricultural wage laborers suffer the most due to this seasonality and usually they face difficulty to smooth their consumptions. As a result, it is extremely difficult to arrange the regular weekly loan repayments of the micro-credit, which they have taken during the productive part of the year. Using field experiments through RCTs in Northern Bangladesh, we randomly assigned seasonality adjusted flexible micro-credits and traditional rigid micro-credit to different borrowing groups. Examining the repayment behavior of the borrowers in the context of geographical classifications and loan designs; employing both survey and experimental methods, this study allows us to see the consequences of flexible loan repayment rules during the lean periods, and how they affect both MFIs and participating borrowers. The findings of this study have important policy implications for MFIs and policy-makers of the developing countries.

The economic situation in Sub-Saharan Africa has recently undergone a process of change. After a long period of stagnation during the 1980s and 1990s, GDP per capita has shown significant growth in the 2000s. Although the growth rate is lower than that of East Asia, it is significantly higher than that in previous decades. The most significant factor yielding the better economic performance is the increase in commodity prices including oil, mineral and agricultural products, which are the main export products for most African countries. Another factor has been the scaling up of aid flows following the commencement of the Millennium Development Goals. The enhanced commitment of the donor community increased aid flow to Africa, which in turn increased GDP through consumption of locally sourced products and services, such as with the construction industry. This book aims to fill the lack of micro evidences on a structural change of African producers. By collecting studies on single industries, the authors attempt to demonstrate firms' and farmers' responses to the recent economic trend such as growth of demand, emergence of FDI and improvement in infrastructure. Since the economic trend differs by industry, its impacts on producers can be observed more clearly by focusing on a single industry. Based on case studies, this book covers four industries in five countries that experienced significant external changes; namely, horticulture in Ghana, construction in Burkina Faso, textiles in Madagascar, agriculture in Uganda, and wood processing in Tanzania. All studies are based on original data collected through the authors' field work.

During the last two decades, Vietnam has been undergoing a process of deregulating economic activities and integrating into the global economy. The passing of the Enterprise Law in 1999, which facilitated the establishment of private enterprises, and the achievement of membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007 were two of the landmark events in Vietnam's rapid growth over this period. In order to cope with such a socioeconomic and institutional transformation, Vietnam's domestic economic entities have employed various measures, including technical upgrading, a shift into new areas of business, the diversification of capital acquisition, the adoption of new models of corporate governance, and other measures. As a result, the reorganization of Vietnam's domestic economic entities, such as the equitization of many state-owned enterprises, the emergence of large-scale private enterprises and the revitalization of rural entrepreneurs have taken place in many areas. This book attempts to analyze economic activity in Vietnam, covering a variety of types and sizes of Vietnam's domestic economic entities from large-scale stateowned enterprises to micro-scale rural entrepreneurs.

A group of internationally recognised experts examine the recent trends of cross-border movements of people, goods and economic activity at fifteen major borders in the Greater Mekong Sub-region with the aim of predicting the long terms future for this region. In the after math of the IndoChina war this region has been in the process of liberalising cross-border movements, the book illustrates that cross-border movements of goods and people have shown upward trend. The activities categorized into manufacturing industries located at border areas, border trade activities like warehouses and transhipment, and casino and tourism also prosper. However, the authors forecast that border trade activities and manufacturing industries at border areas can decline in the long run when tariff is liberalized and when labor forces move to metropolises in searching for better wages, respectively. However, they suggest that such development can continue in the mid-run with some political intentions of the governments to develop border areas.

Focuses on one of the most dynamic and successfully developed but underexplored industries in Southeast Asia Provides rich insights into trajectories and mechanisms of supplier learning based on firm-level data collected through extensive fieldwork Makes significant theoretical and methodological contributions to the field of global value chain and technological capability formation One of the key ingredients of success in building internationally competitive industries lies in amassing a sizeable pool of competent suppliers of parts, components and accessories. This monograph examines how in developing countries suppliers of mechanical components at the low end of the technological trajectory build up key capabilities over time. The focus is on Vietnam’s motorcycle industry, which was rapidly transformed from a small, highly protected market to the world’s fourth largest motorcycle producer. This rare success resulted from intense competition between leading Japanese motorcycle manufacturers and local Vietnamese assemblers of imported Chinese components both attempting to gain supremacy in the emerging market. In particular, the book analyzes how local Vietnamese suppliers of motorcycle components exploited participation in contrasting types of value chains developed by the two groups of leading manufacturing firms, referred to here as Japanese and/or Vietnamese–Chinese chains, for accumulating strategic know-how. On the basis of historical evidence and recent empirical data collected through repeated rounds of in-depth fieldwork the analysis finds first, those suppliers’ learning trajectories evolved over time resulting in a divergence in learning performance extending across suppliers in later phases of industrial development. In the later stage, high-performing suppliers amassed basic innovative expertise, constituting the bedrock of this fast-growing industry. Second, the analysis finds that the diverging performance can be explained by the combination of roles played by lead firms in inducing and facilitating supplier learning and those of suppliers in mobilizing their own sources of knowledge. These conclusions not only provide dynamic, insightful accounts of supplier learning in developing country contexts but also make key theoretical and methodological contributions to the research on value chain participation and supplier learning.

Little is known about the volume of international recycling in Asia, the problems caused and the struggle to properly manage the trade. This pathbreaking book addresses this gap in the literature, and provides a comprehensive overview of the international trade flow of recyclable waste in Asia and related issues.

Economic integration has a profound effect on industry location, as shown by the experiences of North America and Europe. In East Asia Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV) joined ASEAN and initiated cross-border infrastructure projects under the GMS scheme in the 1990s. This book provides a comprehensive picture of industry location in less developed East Asian states—particularly in CLMV— which have pursued trade liberalization and economic integration and the effects that this has had on industrial development. Chapters include detailed empirical analyses of regional data sets from CLMV, examining region-wide industry locations. The book concludes with policy implications for industry location and economic development in East Asia.

Although most rationales for fiscal decentralization are derived from developed countries, decentralization has become a growing trend in the developing world. This has brought about fundamental changes in the paths of development, both at a local level and in intergovernmental relationships. This book uses detailed statistical data from three developing countries in South East Asia to provide an empirical analysis of the influence of fiscal conditions on development, with a focus on regional inequalities and health services.

Both international trade and investment by East Asian countries have become significantly regionalized. To support this development further, efforts for regional integration have flourished in the forms of bilateral and regional free trade agreements and the ASEAN+3 and East Asia Summit processes, among many others. This book is a compilation of papers and discussions originally presented at the international symposium held during the recent global financial crisis. The symposium aimed to shed light not only on the usual economic aspect but also on other aspects of the multidimensional phenomenon called "regional integration". Thus, in this volume the authors explore the relationship between the U.S. influence and East Asian regionalism, the characteristics of East Asian integration, and the politics of inclusion/exclusion in the integration process. In addition, they point out some "missing links" in integration efforts such as cooperation in the areas of logistics, finance, trade in services, infrastructure and human resource movement. Since the global financial crisis did not deter integration efforts (rather, it has encouraged them), this book serves as a guide for future East Asian integration in terms of what to expect and what is to be done.

The emergence of specialized markets has profoundly improved the means of market access, enriched the driving forces of value chains, and changed the business environment for small firms in the developing world. This ground-breaking book summarizes the experience of specialized markets in a systematic manner.

This book is one of the first to provide a fully-fledged and detailed comparative perspective on the growth of major industries in China and India. The focus is explicitly on the indigenous firms and clusters that are emerging as the new world industrial leaders. It clarifies the fundamental differences in the competition and organisation between the two countries, and explores the institutional context that created these gaps. The industries discussed range from the traditional, such as textiles, electronics, and automobiles, to areas that have developed more recently, such as ICT-related services and electric vehicles. Specific focus is placed on the role played by individual skills, organizational R&D, and interfirm networks in capability creation. Other East Asian experiences are used to highlight the new realities of super populous ex-agrarian countries in the 21st century. This is a reliable analysis by an international group of industrial field researchers based on their repeated surveys in both countries.

During the last few decades globalization has transformed economic development in East Asia. The expansion of foreign direct investment, increase in international trade, and accelerated flow of financial and human resources across country borders have triggered rapid industrialization and economic integration in the region. This volume uses the global value chains (GVC) perspective to explore how the dynamic interactions between firms from developed and developing economies, together with other factors, have stimulated and shaped the rise of local firm capabilities in East Asia. By extending and modifying the existing GVC perspective, the contributors present their own analytical framework to explain the rise of firm capabilities within value-chain dynamics. This book is essential reading for all interested in development economics, international trade policy, and East Asian economies and studies.

This book examines the structural aspects of India's Inclusive Growth Strategy (IGS). It takes a multi-dimensional look at IGS and sheds light on many issues that have yet to be fully scrutinized. A team of internationally recognised contributors examine the issues of infrastructure, education and health, finance, gender and minorities, urban slums, land markets and the case of the state of Bihar. The contributors analyse IGS in India from an interdisciplinary perspective to illuminate the issues faced in realising the challenging objective of IGS, namely overcoming inherent social inequality in the process of economic growth. This book is indispensable reading for undergraduates and postgraduates concentrating on South Asian studies as well as those interested in development economics and economic growth.

The characteristic feature of the recent global economic crisis is the speed and extent of the shock transmission. The development of cross-national production networks in recent years has significantly deepened the economic interdependency between countries, and a shock that occurs in one region can be swiftly and extensively transmitted to the rest of the globe. The sudden contraction of world trade and output was a negative outcome of this intertwined global economic system. Based on the method known as international input–output analyses, this book provides a detailed examination of the mechanics of shock transmission by probing the labyrinth of complex supply networks among nations.

This lucid and informative book analyzes the problem of clusters in transition through studies of agglomerations at different stages of development in various East Asian countries.

This volume is intended to be the most comprehensive textbook on economic integration in East Asia. It introduces the reader to various issues related to the topic such as institutional building of FTAs; production networks and the location choice of MNEs; R&D and innovation; infrastructure development and transport costs; international migration and service trade; monetary integration; regional disparity and poverty. It also deals with critical energy, environmental and agricultural concerns. Each chapter contains ample data and rigorous analyses, complemented by illustrative box articles.

Intermediate input trade is regarded as an important contributory factor in explaining the increase in world trade in recent years. This timely book presents, for the first time, meticulous empirical analyses of the growth of input trade, and includes detailed studies that capture the main features and characteristics of production networks in East Asia. Intermediate input trade has grown markedly in East Asia, and at a much faster rate than in the rest of the world. Since the early 1990s, when technological developments made it possible to separate the production process into many stages, East Asia as a region has developed sophisticated production networks in the manufacture of various products. Different countries have installed production stages according to their levels of technology or factor endowments, and consequently sequential production stages are now located across various countries. In order to produce final goods, East Asian nations have therefore relied on the trade of inputs back and forth. Containing unique and important data, this book will appeal to academics, researchers and policymakers interested in trade, economic integration and Asian studies. ‘Spatial fragmentation of production is linked with two great waves of unbundling. The first one was a century and a half ago when the spatial location of production of goods was separated from their consumption. We live in the age of a second unbundling where certain operations within the same factory can be fragmented and performed elsewhere. There is trade in certain tasks and components which was made possible by cheaper and better communication and transport. This book considers production networks in East Asia, which is and will continue to be the most dynamic economic region in the decades to come.’ – Miroslav N. Jovanovic, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Late industrializing countries are able to pick strategies for economic development based on the experiences of countries that preceded them. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (the CLMV countries) were closed off from the international community for many years, and they began to embrace a market economy at around the same time. Each bypassed the import-substitution strategy adopted by other Southeast Asian countries and began industrialization efforts with export growth funded by Foreign Direct Investment. The outcomes differed significantly owing to geographical location, government policies, and internal economic conditions. Industrialization in Late-Developing ASEAN Countries explores these differences through case studies based on an extended research program conducted by the Institute of Developing Economies in Tokyo, which offered insights into models of economic growth, and into the trajectories followed by the four countries examined.

In this book, Jiro Okamoto explores the development of Australia's foreign economic policy towards ASEAN. He examines in detail decisive factors such as changes in the international and regional environment and the replacement of a dominant policy coalition with another in Australia's domestic policy process. His analysis shows that the shifts in Australia's ASEAN policy have not only closely reflected changes in Australia's overall foreign economic policy orientation, but that Australia's ASEAN policy strongly drove the change at key junctures. His work also offers important insights into the prospect of an "inclusive" economic integration process in East Asia. Although Australia's foreign economic policy has been an important element in regional economic cooperation, its inclusion in the East Asian integration process still remains ambiguous.

Expansion of non-standard employment under globalization is widely observed in all of the newly industrializing countries. Non-standard employees and their labour conditions have become major issues of academic debate. This book focuses on three main areas; the deregulation of labour market, social protection for non-standard workers and social security reforms in accordance with the transformation of employment. The contributors to this volume analyze representative nations from the roster of newly industrializing countries from East Asia, Africa, and Latin America as follows: China, South Korea, Taiwan, South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil, examining the possibility that corporatism can solve the problem of non-standard workers in these regions. This book is essential reading for all interested in development economics, labour economics, social policy, social security, Latin American studies and Asian studies in the faculties of economics, sociology and international studies.

Industrial agglomeration is at the centre of global attention. The implementation of agglomeration has helped emerging economies to alleviate poverty, achieve economic growth, and reduce regional gaps. This book provides a coherent and useful framework to explain the formation of agglomeration and the endogenous innovation process of upgrading industrial clusters to the higher R&D. This book contains country studies including; the small and medium scale industries clusters in China; the software industry cluster in India; Japan's industrial cluster policy; the automobile industry clusters in Malaysia; the industrial cluster in the Greater Bangkok, Thailand; the biotechnology industry cluster in Singapore; and the industrial clusters in Rio de Janeiro. The chapters in this volume are based on interviews, field work and micro econometrics, with a specific focus on global and local linkages. This book is essential reading for all interested in industrial cluster policies and development economics.

This work focuses on how less developed economies in Southeast Asia, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV), can establish links with neighbouring countries and participate in production networks. It also takes a look at links between Singapore and the Batam-Bintan-Karimun (BBK) Special Economic Zone in Indonesia. Leading Southeast Asian economies have achieved rapid economic growth by participating in production networks organized by multinational enterprises. It is thus crucial for less developed economies in Southeast Asia to improve their investment climate, attract foreign direct investment, and form competitive industrial clusters. Service link costs must also be reduced substantially to make production fragmentation economically feasible. The authors in this book discuss these issues and provide policy recommendations.

Three of the eight Millennium Development Goals require substantial improvements in the health sector by 2015, specifically in the reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health, and combating of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Although international concern about health is increasing, health outcomes do not appear to be improving at a steady rate. This book raises critical concerns about the limited capacity of healthcare services in developing countries, sadly it is the most vulnerable that are the least protected. This book focuses on the challenging factors and key elements that are essential for a workable health system, in particular finance, human resources, pharmaceuticals and public facilities. Through empirical analyses and in-depth case studies, this book sheds light on how we can help strengthen, improve and make health systems more accessible in developing countries.

Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals has fallen short of expectations in parts of the world. Proponents of ODA (Official Development Assistance) are demanding an increase in aid. However it is argued by many that increased aid in itself does not guarantee substantial reduction of poverty, wider structural and institutional issues need to be identified and addressed before aid package can be effectively utilised. An international team of experts explore new directions in poverty reduction. Individual contributions examine a number of new approaches to enhancing the utility of ODA, including; harnessing the power of market forces, focusing aid on a key few long run challenges and mobilizing advances in technology. The contributors to this timely volume include William Easterly, Simeen Mahmud, Katsumi Hirano, Hiroshi Kato and Masanobu Kiyoka.

In this insightful book, the contributors focus on the impact of contextual factors on social movements in the developing world, pushing major existing theories beyond their traditional focus. With wide coverage of the developing world, leading academics explore a variety of forms and mechanisms of social movement. They present discussions on resource and institutional endowment for mobilization in Colombia and Thailand, and explore the structure behind political opportunities in Argentina, China and South Africa. The history and reality of identity-making in India, Mexico and Nigeria are also examined. Presenting novel analytical frameworks to study social movements in developing countries, this book will be warmly welcomed by academics and researchers with an interest in sociology, development and political science. It will also strongly appeal to social movement activists. ‘Protest and Social Movements in the Developing World is aimed at scholars and social movement activists. Its innovative framework brings a fresh angle to the academic debate on social movements, whilst its meticulous empirical detail will appeal to those involved in a wide variety of social movements. In this sense, Protest and Social Movements in the Developing World will enjoy a warm reception amongst its target audience. . . A useful book for those already well versed in this field.’ – World Entrepreneurship Society ‘Shinichi Shigetomi and Kumiko Makino have produced an important book, global in scope and incisive in its analysis of social movements in different parts of the world. It will be a major resource for scholars everywhere.’ – James Midgley, University of California, Berkeley, US

Increasing numbers of free trade and economic partnership agreements have been concluded among many countries in East Asia, and economic integration has progressed rapidly on both a de facto and de jure basis. However, as the authors of this book argue, integration may intensify regional inequalities in East Asia and so this process has attracted much attention of late. Will it actually succeed in achieving greater economic growth or will it in fact cause growing regional disparity?

It is often claimed that, in East Asia, de facto economic integration has proceeded in advance of de jure integration. This book argues that de jure economic integration is now beginning in East Asia, with various recent regional trade agreements in the form of free trade agreements (FTAs). However, the proliferation and evolution of FTAs raises questions about the future of integration in East Asia. Using a combination of international trade theory, spatial economics, data-work empirical studies, and field studies on various scenarios of de jure economic integration, this book brings together a range of experts in this area to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of East Asia’s economic integration, and is a crucial resource for academics and policymakers interested in this key area.

South Asia, with more than 1.5 billion people, accounts for more than twenty per cent of the world’s population. Many countries in the region, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, are undergoing dynamic economic and social changes as globalization and liberalization spread. Issues such as labour law reforms, reservation in the private sector, employment in the ready-made garment industry and labour migration, are becoming increasingly important as South Asia adapts to globalisation and growth. This book investigates the numerous labour and employment issues which face South Asia in this era of growth. Based on critical examination of the legal, regulatory and institutional framework of labour reforms, and on unique and extensive field surveys, the book will be of great interest to all seeking a comprehensive analysis of labour economics, labour laws, economic growth and globalisation in South Asia.

This book is the outcome of the international symposium on 'Economic Integration in Asia and India' held in Tokyo, Japan, on Decemeber 8, 2005. In the flow of globalization in the world economies, the regional economic integrations which have been progressing institutionally in the EU and Americas are now substantially under way among countries in Asia, including Japan, Korea, China and the ASEAN countries. India has also taken steps on the passage towards economic integration. India's full-scale participation in the Asian market will affect other East Asian countries, which in turn will also have manifold influences on India. This book aims to trigger a wider examination of Asian economic integration.

In this book, the focus is on how developing economies in Southeast Asia ride on the wave of globalization that brings about benefits and economic growth with expanding trade and investment linkages. The central concept used in this study is production networks and industrial clusters. With examples from Indonesia and Malaysia (electronics industry), Singapore (biomedical science industry), and Thailand (automotive industry), the book explains how production networks and industrial clusters have played crucial roles in their industrial development. This book also discusses the progress of regional economic cooperation as well as the development of supply chain management and logistics in Southeast Asia, which facilitate the extension of production networks into a broader area.

Industrial cluster policy is crucial to the development of regions in East Asia. Theories of agglomeration and clustering show that industrial clusters are effective ways of generating external economies and reducing transportation costs on a small and large-scale. Before a effective cluster can be built, however, it is necessary to clarify the conditions which are required for its success. This book presents a framework for analysing industrial cluster policies. The flowchart approach is a practical method which makes it clear what factors are important in building industrial clusters, how firms are agglomerated and how policy measures are prioritised. With case studies from China, USA, India, Japan, Thailand and Mexico, this book provides a detailed and comprehensive exploration of industrial clusters, and explains how the flowchart approach can be applied in analysing these case studies.

With the globalization of economic activity bringing about the expansion of markets and deepening of economic interdependency beyond state-borders, a new political challenge arises: how to effectively integrate the interdependent economies into a harmonious unity through the creation of new super-state institutions? This book applies a spatial economics perspective to the understanding of the recent dynamism of the global economy, with particular focus on East Asia. In addition, it examines the prospects of regional integration in East Asia.

This book examines the issues of environmental policy formation and implementation linked to economic development, by reviewing the Japanese experiences and the examples of other Asian countries. This reveals factors, which could mutually influence effectiveness in environmental policy, of dynamism between environmental policy and social change in a domestic, regional and global context.

This book presents theoretical and empirical analyses of the new developments in exchange rate regimes in developing countries since the 1990s. It addresses a variety of exchange rate regimes from hard peg to floating and their impact in regions such as East Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. From this we can observe diverse case studies of how various exchange rate regimes relate to national economy in developing countries.

It is often claimed that de facto economic integration has proceeded in East Asia, yet this is only true in part. Few studies have been conducted on the extent of the integration and what sort of integration has been accomplished. Currently economic integration in East Asia has not reached the level of that in the European Union with East Asia's trajectory seeming to be different from the path on which Europe once advanced. The nature and characteristics of de facto economic integration are also crucially important and this book presents a deeper understanding of the on-going de facto economic integration in East Asia.

This volume explores what happened in the Asian transition economies of China, Vietnam and Myanmar from both macro and micro perspectives. These economies opted for the gradual transition approach rather than the big bang approach that Russia and some CIS economies took. This ensured that institutional change was possible, unlike with the big bang approach. However the processes organized are done so by the governments, the same entities responsible for the planning during the planned economic eras, and whose incentive to reform may be debatable. This book questions whether these governments are capable of implementing effective reform and transformation.

This book focuses on East Asia, which has been attracting FDI and a centre of industrial agglomeration, and because of this, the production structure in the world has been dynamically transforming. This book analyzes this world trend and provides a framework for strategy that is required not only for Japanese local governments to implement industrial cluster policy, but also for firms to survive the global competition.

Although much has been written about Japanese economic development, less attention is given to its social development, and still less to gender related issues. The book analyses various aspects of Japanese historical and current experiences. It covers themes such as economic development and gender disparities, population policy, rural livelihood programs, rural income generation work and female empowerment, female political participation, sharing of domestic work, discourses on the modern family, state and gender, and women in factories. Each chapter is written not to analyze the Japanese case per se but in a comparative perspective with developing countries. The common message is a call for the creation of an interactive space to exchange individual experiences and insights between different societies in order to formulate a more powerful gender and development agenda in each society.

Regional development problems in China have been focused on by many analysts and policy makers. From the viewpoint of regional development policy, it is highly importrant to consider the spatial interactions among different regions. Most of the approaches have focused on certain specific regions, without taking into account interregional interdependency. The aim of this book is to analyze regional development in China from the viewpoint of spatial interaction by using interegional input-output model for China. The book is divided into two parts: Part 1 provides the data and analytical tools of interregional input-output in China; and Part 2 discusses regional development problem in China by some analytical tools, interregional input-output approach. The book conludes that Northeast China should form more intensive spatial linkages with North Coast and North Municipalities, while Northwest should introduce more investments of new industry into the associated region.

This collection exmines the flaws in the Washington Consensus and looks at the key link between market and government. The East Asian Miracle shows that the market and government are complementary, particularly with regard to economic development. However, the nature of this relationship has not been fully clarified. The book assesses development strategies and policy issues in the context of individual and/or regional economy's history and political-economic reality. With these perceptions in mind, the book focuses on the role and significance of government in economic development and examines the effects of initial conditions and of the development policies of developing economies on their structures and performances under globalization. The type of policy interventions that could promote economic development through institution building and the increasing role of government in security provision both within and across nation states are discussed. Alternative strategies are suggested for future development.

Trade liberalization has swept over developing countries over the past few decades and its results have been argued about for the last few years. This important new book presents useful insights into the experience of APEC countries that have gone through numerous liberalizing reforms in recent times. Students, researchers and readers generally interested in APEC economies will find this book a good addition to their bookshelves.