2 results
Foreword
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- By Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Vice President Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Asian Development Bank
- Edited by Juzhong Zhuang
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- Book:
- Poverty, Inequality, and Inclusive Growth in Asia
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 05 March 2012
- Print publication:
- 01 May 2010, pp xi-xii
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Summary
The single biggest policy challenge facing Asia is how to sustain rapid economic growth that reduces poverty and is socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable. The challenges–and opportunities–are all the greater given rapid population growth in much of the region, the need to rebalance growth in light of the global financial crisis, and the multiple challenges of responding to climate change. This timely book brings together some of the latest research and findings on poverty reduction, inequality, and conceptual and policy issues of inclusive growth in Asia.
The book highlights Asia's remarkable economic achievements. Between 1990 and 2008, the region's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) increased almost three-fold, expanding 5.7% a year. Growth was most pronounced in East Asia, at over 8% a year, driven largely by the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was also solid in many countries in Southeast Asia—where the shock of the 1997/98 financial crisis was particularly strong—and, more recently, in India. But per capita GDP growth was nowhere near as robust elsewhere. The economy of Central and West Asia grew just 1.3% annually over 1990–2008, and the Pacific only 0.3%.
In much of Asia, rapid growth has improved the livelihoods of vast numbers of people. The percentage of people living below the $1.25-a-day poverty line fell from 52.3% in 1990 to 27.1% in 2005. The poverty reduction was the largest in the PRC, where it fell from 60.2% in 1990 to 15.9% in 2005, but it was also significant in many other countries.
Foreword
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- By Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Sustainable Development Asian Development Bank
- Edited by Dante Canlas, Muhammad Khan, Juzhong Zhuang
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- Book:
- Diagnosing the Philippine Economy
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 05 March 2012
- Print publication:
- 01 August 2009, pp iii-iv
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Summary
The last two decades or so have seen considerable advances in thinking on development policies. The thinking in the late 1980s and early 1990s was very much guided by the Washington Consensus. Subsequent experiences of many countries, including those in Latin America and Africa, however, showed that the policy prescriptions based on the Washington Consensus did not always deliver the expected development outcomes. The disappointment with the Washington Consensus led to a continued search for new approaches to development strategy. A new consensus has in the meantime emerged that the economic and political environment differs a great deal among countries, and there is no “onesize- fits-all” solution to development problems; thus, identifying the binding constraints to development and sequencing policy priorities contingent on country-specific circumstances are critical for igniting and sustaining growth and accelerating the pace of poverty reduction.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is committed to achieving its vision of an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. This vision is restated in its recently adopted long-term strategic framework 2008–2020 (Strategy 2020), under which ADB will support its developing member countries to reduce poverty and improve their peoples' living conditions and quality of life. Strategy 2020 directs ADB to do so by focusing its development assistance, finance, policy advice, and knowledge solutions on three distinct but complementary development agendas: inclusive growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Under Strategy 2020, ADB is also committed to continuing efforts to enhance the effectiveness and results of its development aid.