Development Asia—Tackling Asia's Inequality: Creating Opportunities for the Poor

Development Asia—Tackling Asia's Inequality: Creating Opportunities for the Poor PDF Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
ISBN: 9292574205
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 53

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Book Description
One worrisome trend in Asia is growing inequality—the rich are getting richer much faster than the poor. This issue of Development Asia was brought into sharp focus with the current financial turmoil, which is having a much greater impact on the poor than the rich. How much should inequality be a cause for alarm, if at all? What are the implications of a widening social divide? Should governments do something—or nothing? The stories on this cover theme look at many aspects of a complex issue. Guest economists present the case for and against interventions toward social inclusion, though they tend to support policies that promote equal opportunity and access to good education and basic health services. One of the issue's main stories looks at the role of globalization in increasing well-being at all levels of society, but it also notes that the well-to-do are better placed than the poor to take advantage of the opportunities that globalization offers. Contrasting profiles of India and the Philippines are provided. One shows how strong growth can create jobs for the poor despite structural inequalities. The other illustrates how even robust growth can fail to provide enough jobs because of structural inequalities.

Development Asia—Tackling Asia's Inequality: Creating Opportunities for the Poor

Development Asia—Tackling Asia's Inequality: Creating Opportunities for the Poor PDF Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
ISBN: 9292574205
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 53

Get Book

Book Description
One worrisome trend in Asia is growing inequality—the rich are getting richer much faster than the poor. This issue of Development Asia was brought into sharp focus with the current financial turmoil, which is having a much greater impact on the poor than the rich. How much should inequality be a cause for alarm, if at all? What are the implications of a widening social divide? Should governments do something—or nothing? The stories on this cover theme look at many aspects of a complex issue. Guest economists present the case for and against interventions toward social inclusion, though they tend to support policies that promote equal opportunity and access to good education and basic health services. One of the issue's main stories looks at the role of globalization in increasing well-being at all levels of society, but it also notes that the well-to-do are better placed than the poor to take advantage of the opportunities that globalization offers. Contrasting profiles of India and the Philippines are provided. One shows how strong growth can create jobs for the poor despite structural inequalities. The other illustrates how even robust growth can fail to provide enough jobs because of structural inequalities.

Poverty, Inequality, and Inclusive Growth in Asia

Poverty, Inequality, and Inclusive Growth in Asia PDF Author: Juzhong Zhuang
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 9780857288387
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 493

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Book Description
While Asia’s growth record in recent decades is remarkable, it has been marred by rising inequalities. This book looks at recent trends of income and non-income inequalities in developing Asian countries, discusses their underlying driving forces, and examines key policy issues that need to be addressed to ensure that the benefits of growth will be more equitably shared in Asia. The book also presents a set of country studies that provide rich information on growth, poverty and inequality dynamics and the policy challenges that arise in marching toward inclusive growth.

Development Asia—Deepening Divide: Can Asia Beat the Menace of Rising Inequality?

Development Asia—Deepening Divide: Can Asia Beat the Menace of Rising Inequality? PDF Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
ISBN: 9292574442
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
Development Asia examines Asia's widening inequality from many different perspectives. It looks at the role of globalization in producing inequality, and considers the disputed relationship between inequality and economic growth. Beneath the gloss of Asia's newfound prosperity lies an unsettling reality. Rising inequality has denied the benefits of Asia's economic growth to many millions of its citizens. The problem is worsening as the region's rich get richer much faster than the poor, who miss out on the income, education, and health care they need to lead fulfilling lives. Asia isn't the only region suff ering from a wealth gap, but unlike others it has failed so far to narrow the divide. Most of its large economies have shown rising income inequality since the 1990s, and rural poverty is outpacing urban poverty across much of the continent. If left unchecked, the consequences of this trend could be dire. In this issue, Development Asia examines Asia's widening inequality from many different perspectives. It looks at the role of globalization in producing inequality, and considers the disputed relationship between inequality and economic growth.

Getting Even

Getting Even PDF Author: Mustafa Talpur
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 9389165717
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Asia's phenomenal economic growth during last few decades is a remarkable success story in the fight against poverty. Between 2005 and 2012 alone, the number of people living in extreme poverty in Asia-Pacific was reduced by 1.1 billion-accounting for more than 90 per cent of the total poverty reduction achieved worldwide. However, these achievements have been overshadowed by the sharp rise in income and wealth inequality. The concentration of private wealth is of a greater concern. In several countries in Asia, the richest top 5% control close to 70% of the nation's total private wealth; the top 1% control more than 50%. This level of disparity has pervasive consequences for everyone. It stifles social mobility, undermines social cohesion, hurts long-term growth and reinforces inequality of opportunities. It encourages crime, sparks corruption and can lead to violent conflict. Left unchecked, growing inequality undermines the fight to end poverty and more people living with little hope. Such stark inequality is not inevitable – it is the consequence of political and economic choices. Deliberate policy choices have fostered the extremes of income, wealth seen across Asia today. It is against this context that book brings together a select group of academics across Asia to examine and bring forth positive stories about public policies introduced in last decade to address economic inequality. Scholarly written papers scrutinize the extent to which these policies have been successful. The book seeks to generate evidence across a range of contexts to demonstrate- what kind of governments programmes and policies have positive impact to reduce inequality and how these could be designed. These inspirational stories will fill the vital knowledge gap in Asia to foster peace and shared prosperity.

Inequality in Asia and the Pacific

Inequality in Asia and the Pacific PDF Author: Ravi Kanbur
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134670273
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
Asia’s rapid economic growth has led to a significant reduction in extreme poverty, but accompanied by rising inequality. This book deals with three questions: What have been the trends of inequality in Asia and the Pacific? What are the key drivers of rising inequality in the region? How should Asian countries respond to the rising inequality? Technological change, globalization, and market-oriented reform have been the key drivers of Asia’s remarkable growth and poverty reduction, but they have also had significant distribution consequences. These three drivers of growth cannot be hindered because they are the sources of productivity improvement and betterment of quality of life. This book will be useful to those interested in policy options that could be deployed by Asian countries in confronting rising inequality.

Challenging Southeast Asian Development

Challenging Southeast Asian Development PDF Author: Jonathan Rigg
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317414594
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Over the course of the last half century, the growth economies of Southeast Asia – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – have transformed themselves into middle income countries. This book looks at how the very success of these economies has bred new challenges, novel problems, and fresh tensions, including the fact that particular individuals, sectors and regions have been marginalised by these processes. Contributing to discussions of policy implications, the book melds endogenous and exogenous approaches to thinking about development paths, re-frames Asia’s model(s) of growth and draws out the social, environmental, political and economic side-effects that have arisen from growth. An interesting analysis of the problems that come alongside development’s achievements, this book is an important contribution to Southeast Asian Studies, Development Studies and Environmental Studies.

The Elusive Quest for Inclusive Growth

The Elusive Quest for Inclusive Growth PDF Author: Mr.Ravi Balakrishnan
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475531168
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
This paper assesses how pro-poor and inclusive Asia’s recent growth has been, and what factors have been driving these outcomes. It finds that while poverty has fallen across the region over the last two decades, inequality has increased, dampening the impact of growth on poverty reduction. As a result, relative to other emerging and developing regions and to Asia’s own past, the recent period of growth has been both less inclusive and less pro-poor. Our analysis suggests a number of policies that could help redress these trends and broaden the benefits of growth in Asia. These include fiscal policies to increase spending on health, education, and social safetynets; labor market reforms to boost the labor share of total income; and reforms to make financial systems more inclusive.

Demystifying Rising Inequality in Asia

Demystifying Rising Inequality in Asia PDF Author: Bihong Huang
Publisher:
ISBN: 9784899741015
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
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 focusing on three broad themes, corresponding to three parts of the volume. Part I offers an overview of inequality in Asia, Part II focuses on the drivers of rising inequality in Asia, and Part III presents country case studies.

Growth, Development and Poverty Alleviation in the Asia-Pacific

Growth, Development and Poverty Alleviation in the Asia-Pacific PDF Author: Kartik Chandra Roy
Publisher: Nova Publishers
ISBN: 9781594549311
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
This volume presents a variety of papers on issues related to growth, development and poverty prepared by specialists in their particular development-related fields. While the living standards of most people around the world have improved over time in absolute terms, many are still in desperate poverty. The major bulk of humanity lives in the continent of Asia, and it is here that some of the more spectacular contrasts in both economic growth and levels of affluence and destitution can be found. Whether India and China can continue to grow as fast as they have done in recent years remains to be seen. More importantly perhaps, whether growth alone can reduce poverty in these countries and in others is a question that needs to be discussed and understood. Outside of India and China, the African continent, particularly the nations in Sub-Saharan Africa is home to large numbers of poor and deprived humanity. Many of these countries are natural resource rich, but that has not enabled many of them to achieve adequate growth and reduce poverty. As countries grow, they put extra pressure on both global resources and the natural environment. The question as to whether there are finite limits to economic growth in a global sense is one that has long exercised thinkers. Technological progress has often enabled countries to economise on resource use without sacrificing growth. Whether that can continue indefinitely is also a question that has acquired a new urgency with the recent faster growth experience of the most populous countries.

Asian Development Outlook 2012

Asian Development Outlook 2012 PDF Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
ISBN: 9290926074
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 637

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Book Description
Despite weak global demand, the Asian Development Outlook 2012 expects that developing Asia will largely maintain its growth momentum in the next couple of years, in an environment of easing inflation for most regional economies, although policy makers must be alert to further oil-price spikes arising from threats of oil supply disruptions. The report sees that the greatest risk to the outlook is the uncertainty surrounding the resolution of sovereign debt problems in the eurozone. Still, in the absence of any sudden shocks, developing Asia can manage the effects on its trade flows and financial markets.