Land trusts are the best way for governments in Asia to acquire private land for infrastructure projects. They also increase the likelihood that private companies will help build the roads, bridges, and railways that will keep economies growing.

Recent research by the Asian Development Bank Institute notes that political upheaval has often accompanied attempts by governments to take over private land for infrastructure projects. India, Nepal, Indonesia, and the Philippines have all faced opposition to forcible land expropriation. Projects have been delayed by years or even canceled because of sometimes-violent opposition to land takeovers.

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https://bit.ly/2APPPGU

Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/land-acquisition-and-infrastructure-development-through-land-trust-laws

About the authors

Saumik Paul is a senior economist at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI).

Naoyuki Yoshino is dean of ADBI.

Vengadeshvaran Sarma is an economist at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia campus.

Saloni Lakhia is a graduate student at the International Christian University.

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Girls now have more schooling on average than boys in the People’s Republic of China, reversing the age-old tradition of sons being better educated than daughters.

One driver of change is China’s rapid economic growth over the past several decades, which has raised female literacy and living standards, leading to females receiving more schooling. Government policies limiting families to just one child and requiring them to send all children to school are also major factors.

Kathleen McGarry and Xiaoting Sun of UCLA explain the factors contributing to the change in trend.

Read the transcript

https://bit.ly/2QcPhW4

Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/three-generations-changing-gender-patterns-schooling-prc

About the authors

Kathleen McGarry is a professor and vice chair in the Department of Economics at UCLA and a research associate at National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Xiaoting Sun is a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at UCLA.

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Innovative financial services and improved ways of doing business have emerged on the back of the rapidly growing digital economy, a field that has been growing exponentially over the past 10 years.

The digital economy is extremely diverse, driving e-commerce, app stores, online advertising, online payment services, and cloud computing among a wide range of fields.

Because the digital economy operates in an environment lacking regulations, achieving fair taxation is a challenge. Wawan Juswanto and Rebecca Simms explain.

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https://bit.ly/2rgYpdr

Read the policy brief

https://www.adb.org/publications/fair-taxation-digital-economy

About the author

Wawan Juswanto was a senior economist and Rebecca Simms was an associate at the Asian Development Bank Institute when the research was conducted.

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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) comprise 99% of nonfinancial businesses in the euro area and employ 67% of the total labor force. In Asia, they account for almost 98% of all businesses and employ about 66% of the workforce. These businesses are vital to a country’s economy.

To survive, most SMEs need external funding. The most important direct sources are credit lines, bank loans, and leasing. Funds are essential—but where are they? What can be done to help SMEs? Danilo Mascia of Nottingham University Business School investigates.

Read the transcript

https://bit.ly/2QlSLEL

Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/young-enterprises-and-bank-credit-denials

About the author

Danilo Mascia is an assistant professor in banking at Nottingham University Business School, United Kingdom.

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Linking the People's Republic of China with Asia, Africa, and Europe by land and sea can be a win-win for China and its partner countries, if the trillions of dollars China plans to invest in infrastructure will benefit its partners, too. Jean François Gautrin of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research explains.

Read the transcript

https://bit.ly/2zk7ZjR

Read the report

https://www.asiapathways-adbi.org/2018/03/one-belt-one-road-and-the-risks-behind-the-win-win-situation/

About the author

Jean François Gautrin is an associate research fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.

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More than 60% of adults in the Kyrgyz Republic do not have access to financial products and services, and many still prefer to keep their money under a mattress. While a quarter of the adult population have savings, only 3% have money saved in financial institutions.

Nor do people have much use for credit. Only 10.2% of adults have borrowed from a financial institution or used a credit card, a number that’s below global averages.

Lack of access to banks and credit keep the poor from escaping poverty because they don’t have the means to invest in a business, education, or even their own health.

Savia Hasanova describes recent developments in financial inclusion and financial literacy in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Read the transcript

https://bit.ly/2A8BRiN

Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/financial-inclusion-regulation-literacy-education-kyrgyz-republic

About the author

Savia Hasanova is an economic expert at the Investment Round Table in the Kyrgyz Republic.

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Laws in developing countries generally reflect their unique cultures, which may restrict innovation and risk-taking, throwing obstacles in the path to development.

Strong legal mechanisms, including intellectual property rights and patent protection, allow innovation to thrive.

More than elsewhere in Asia, Southeast Asian countries emphasize the economic value of intellectual property rights on patents, but enforcement varies and so does their attraction for investors.

Douglas Cumming of the Schulich School of Business in York University and Sofia Johan of the Tilburg Law and Economics Centre of the University of Tilburg discuss the relationship between law and culture on innovation.

Read the transcript

https://bit.ly/2RQL4DS

Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/law-culture-and-innovation

About the authors

Douglas Cumming is a professor and Ontario research chair of the Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada.

Sofia Johan is an extramural research fellow of the Tilburg Law and Economics Centre, University of Tilburg, The Netherlands.

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In Chinese culture, as in most other cultures, whom you know is often more important than what you know, and social networks of relatives, friends, or local links are recognized as important to cultivate for help in job hunting, career promotion, or gathering and disseminating information.

In developed economies, it’s called “networking,” or informal exchanges of business cards and ideas with like-minded people in social settings.

In the Peoples Republic of China, and among the Chinese diaspora, it’s called “guanxi”—whom to call when something needs to be done, in an exchange of favors or potential influence—and it has long played a crucial role in facilitating informal credit activities.

Read the transcript

https://bit.ly/2FkxZB7

Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/social-networks-and-informal-inclusion-prc

About the authors

Shijun Chai is a lecturer at Xinyang Normal University.

Yang Chen is a lecturer at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou.

Dezhu Ye is a professor at Jinan University in Guangzhou.

Bihong Huang is a research fellow at the Asian Development Bank Institute.

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Scores of countries have fallen and are falling into the middle-income trap as they strive to develop. And, because of income inequality, aging populations, and a lack of growth impetus, some may never escape.

Of the world’s 199 countries and semi-sovereign economies, 88 are stuck in the middle-income trap: 20 are in Europe, 18 in North America, 16 in Asia, 15 in Africa, 11 in South America, and 8 in Oceania.

Chen Wang of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and Jiajun Lan of the Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics at Xiamen University describe the challenges middle-income countries face.

Read the transcript

https://bit.ly/2AR7S0C

Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/inequality-aging-and-middle-income-trap

About the authors

Chen Wang is an assistant professor at the School of Urban and Regional Science, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Jiajun Lan is a PhD candidate at the Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics, Xiamen University, People’s Republic of China.

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Timely and accurate credit information is critical to a well-functioning financial industry and essential for any government to maintain financial stability.

About a third of credit bureaus consider only negative data and provide an incomplete, and often inaccurate, assessment of a borrower’s risks. Governments should collect comprehensive data on each level of business in each sector. Data should also be made available to registries and bureaus to improve their abilities in providing public services, creating policy, and conducting statistical analysis, but individuals should be allowed to protect data from others.

These comprehensive data, paired with those from other sources, can present an accurate and complete description of an individual so financial services can be better tailored to suit individual needs.

Read the transcript

https://bit.ly/2RIjhW5

Read the policy brief

https://www.adb.org/publications/financial-inclusion-digital-age

About the authors

Shawn Hunter is manager of inclusive finance at the Foundation for Development Cooperation.

David Dole is senior capacity building and training economist at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI).

Valdimir dela Cruz was an associate at ADBI at the time this policy brief was written.

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https://bit.ly/2SRd6A8