This column summarizes a study that offers a new perspective on how multinational firms adapt to significant tariff changes during an era of globalization. Specifically, it examines the impact of tariff shocks in destination markets on Korean firms’ outward foreign direct investment (FDI) from 2010 to 2018. The findings reveal an asymmetric impact of tariffs: significant decreases in tariffs lead multinational enterprises (MNEs) to reduce the number of subsidiaries, rather than reducing the average investment per subsidiary. In contrast, the effects of tariff increases on FDI are muted. The study also highlights that more productive firms are more likely to reduce the number of subsidiaries they maintain in developing countries when faced with substantial tariff decreases. These findings underscore how MNEs adapt to evolving trade policies, reallocating resources among their foreign subsidiaries.

The global labor market was significantly disrupted by COVID-19, and this study examines the impact on Thailand using Labor Force Survey data from 2018 to 2021. The workers most adversely affected are those (1) employed in high-risk sectors, (2) with lower levels of education, and (3) in younger age groups. The findings indicate that the unemployment rate is positively associated with sectoral risk levels and marital status, where married individuals and public sector employees are less likely to be unemployed. Additionally, parenthood has been linked to lower wages, with a more pronounced effect on women, suggesting a “she-cession” in the nation.

What are the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on routine healthcare services other than COVID-19 treatments? We investigated the surgical productivity change during and after the pandemic in Japan by examining the case of a large university hospital. Our studies revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the improvement of surgical productivity in the short term. However, the change in surgical productivity did not suffer from the state of emergency during the pandemic. Furthermore, no evidence indicated that the pandemic had any lasting effects on reducing surgical productivity during the post-pandemic period. Our implications for surgical practice and healthcare policy would be valuable lessons for future pandemics.

The Global South confronts numerous pressing issues that must be resolved to alleviate poverty. Such urgent problems include the often-overlooked challenges confronting people with disabilities. Unfortunately, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) do not adequately represent these difficulties, probably because of the paucity of relevant data. Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization (IDE-JETRO) has endeavored to create a data model to bridge this gap. This model will compile comprehensive information on people with disabilities and thus deliver essential data for policymakers.

As digitalization transforms global economic activities, some developing countries are witnessing an increase in homegrown entrepreneurs who leverage technology to address local needs and challenges. Although studies have emphasized the critical role of “returnee entrepreneurs” equipped with the technology and business models acquired abroad, local knowledge and connections are also essential for managing a business. Fujita (2024) uses Vietnam as a case study to show how global influences and local dynamics together impact the emergence of domestic players in digital services.

The location of industries in East Asia is closely associated with access to transportation infrastructure, such as ports and airports. This column presents findings from a novel analysis of industrial location patterns across 1,786 subnational regions in 16 East Asian countries. Using a comprehensive regional GDP dataset, the study examines how factors such as domestic and foreign market access, proximity to ports and airports, and local economic conditions affect the concentration of various industries. The results reveal that the determinants of industrial location vary considerably across sectors. For instance, the automotive industry is strongly associated with domestic market access, while the electronics industry is more dependent on foreign market access and proximity to airports. These insights have important implications for developing industrial and infrastructure policies in Asia.

Choosing suitable research topics always presents difficulties for researchers. I was interested in food security, so I participated in a research project on the Green Revolution in Asia in the late 1980s. I discovered that the Green Revolution was necessary for reducing hunger but yielded limited employment generation. Therefore, I decided to study industrial development because it can offer employment opportunities to the poor and contribute unequivocally to poverty reduction. In sum, my approach is to first identify critical issues before I conduct careful case studies. I do not want to contend that my methodology represents the only correct stance. However, I would like to highlight the existence of innumerable studies that have selected research topics based on the applicability of advanced research methods.

Teachers play a key role in student learning, but some teachers lack the skills needed to be effective teachers. A recent nationwide-scale teacher coaching program in rural areas of Peru evaluated the impact of a teacher coaching program on teachers’ skills and student learning. Previous studies find that small-scale coaching programs can improve teaching of reading and science in developing countries. However, scaling up can reduce programs’ effectiveness. The evaluation of this teacher coaching program exploited random assignment of that program’s expansion to 3,797 schools in rural areas of Peru. After two years, teachers assigned to the program increased their aggregate pedagogical skills. The program also increased student learning.

Despite a significant rise in geopolitical risks, participation in global value chains (GVCs) is still regarded as a promising and unavoidable gateway to economic development that helps to upgrade countries’ industrial structures for sustainable economic growth. We present a series of empirical findings related to factors that facilitate GVC participation and industrial upgrading, with explicit emphasis on the role of maritime and aviation connectivity and technological intensity of exports.

The international division of labor involving East Asia has been forced to significantly change as a result of conflicts between the US and China. With regard to production, global value chains centered on China have been rapidly restructured. As for research and development, technological decoupling is underway, and the previously open innovation system is becoming semi-closed. Furthermore, skepticism is growing about the feasibility of an international division of labor among countries with disparate economic systems. Based on the research findings in our book on this topic, this column analyzes the impacts of US–China economic conflicts on East Asian economies and explains the responses of relevant countries and regions.

International migration patterns are becoming increasingly diverse and complex, with some migrants moving across multiple borders throughout their lives, while returning migrants may only return home temporarily. This study examines the likelihood of future migration and explores migration trajectories of Indian nurses returning from Arabian Gulf countries. The analysis reveals that nurses who return to India are more inclined to emigrate again if they are currently employed in the private sector, which offers lower financial rewards compared to the public sector in India. Conversely, nurses are more likely to settle permanently in India if they can secure higher pay and permanent contracts. Ensuring decent pay and better working conditions for nurses in countries that often lose them through emigration is critical to retaining these healthcare professionals.

With the gradual decline in the country’s working-age population and the rapid increase in the wage levels for its blue-collar workers, it is increasingly important for manufacturers in China to improve human resource management for migrant workers to enhance their embeddedness and commitment to the workplace and reduce turnover. To examine migrant workers’ attitudes toward their jobs, we conducted a survey of factory employees in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. Our results show that job embeddedness significantly enhances these employees’ organizational commitment to their workplaces, and that greater organizational commitment significantly reduces turnover intentions. Meanwhile, when migrant workers are divided into two age groups (younger than 25 years and 25 years or older), we find that job embeddedness has significant positive effects on organizational commitment for only the younger group.

Capital control policies in China have significant and varied impacts on gross domestic product (GDP) growth distribution, particularly in mitigating downside risks. This column examines the heterogeneous effects of China's capital control indices on GDP growth distribution. The findings indicate that although aggregated capital control policies reduce the downside risks in the medium term, they may constrain the upswings of GDP growth in the short term. Notably, outflow control and resident transaction control indices exhibit pronounced short-term heterogeneous effects. The implications show that policymakers should strategically implement capital control measures to balance the benefits of reducing the downside risks with the potential costs of constraining economic growth during upswings.

We present new reference statistics for the degree of supply chain’s exposure to geographic concentration risk. The study’s net contribution is developing a metric that indicates network concentration in terms of the frequency of supply chain engagement with regions of analytical interest, in addition to the traditional approach of measuring value-added concentration by volume.
The traditional input–output analyses are largely based on the volume concept, such as the trade in value-added indicator, whereas the current model explores a novel dimension of “frequency” in this analytical space.

In 2018, China disrupted global trade in waste plastic by banning imports. Exporters were forced to seek new destinations. The waste haven hypothesis says that net exports will grow to countries that are poorer and/or have weaker environmental regulations. In this research we ask whether plastic waste trade exhibits such a pattern, and how trade changed following China’s ban. Empirical analysis supports the waste haven hypothesis and shows that the ban exacerbated this pattern. It is likely that post-ban trade increases exceeded demand for waste as feedstock to recycled plastic production, thereby increasing likelihood of disposal in importing countries. Therefore, because importers generally have weaker environmental regulations, the new trade pattern may worsen the global plastic pollution crisis.