In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

In a just-released paper from The Asia Foundation, chief economist and Economic Reform and Development Director Bruce Tolentino examines how reforms are shaped by the context of political decision-making, and how politics affect economic choice. This latest paper, the third in the Foundation’s new “Occasional Paper” series, sketches out the operational features of emerging political economy-based approaches to sectoral...

...failed to anticipate the sources and dimensions of the global financial crisis. Such contrasting narratives across Asian countries indicate the diversity and complexity of the analytical conundrums that economists face, and the governance challenges that economic managers must overcome. V. Bruce J. Tolentino is The Asia Foundation’s Director for Economic Reform and Development Programs. He can be reached at btolentino@asiafound.org....

...crucial intelligence and strategy for shared food security, including food stocks and production forecasts. By bringing together dedicated experts and key stakeholders in one room to debate how this can be done, this conference has strong potential to help. V. Bruce J. Tolentino is The Asia Foundation’s Director for Economic Reform and Development Programs. He can be reached at btolentino@asiafound.org....

...growth rates experienced in the early post-transition period? Although such questions remain, the Forum certainly helped generate goodwill and increased confidence that the Mongolian government can maximize its natural and human resource strengths to set the country back on a path to growth and recovery. V. Bruce J. Tolentino is The Asia Foundation’s Director for Economic Reform and Development Programs....

...could see my own children go out into the world as confident entrepreneurs. I wished that other governments could provide similar incentives as these young Chinese investors were armed with. Most of all, I envied them, for they seemed to be having fun. V. Bruce J. Tolentino is The Asia Foundation’s chief economist and director for Economic Reform and Development...

...coordination to prevent the world economy from falling into a depression. As the crisis ebbs and we head into a new decade, cooperation in international economic governance is ever more crucial for shared intelligence, joint action, and mutual benefit. V. Bruce J. Tolentino is The Asia Foundation’s Director for Economic Reform and Development Programs. He can be reached at btolentino@asiafound.org....

...all these challenges will come to naught if the greatest long-term challenge – climate change – is not adequately anticipated and its effects mitigated. V. Bruce J. Tolentino is The Asia Foundation’s Director for Economic Reform and Development Programs. He will be attending the ADB’s Investment Forum on Food Security in Manila in July. He can be reached at btolentino@asiafound.org....

...we’ll be featuring analysis of key survey findings from The Asia Foundation’s country representative in Afghanistan, Bruce J. Tolentino, and survey authors Mohammad Osman Tariq, Najla Ayoubi, and Fazel Rabi Haqbeen. This brand-new slideshow captures some of the 6,348 interviews as they took place, with pollsters traveling long, arduous distances to survey community members across all 34 diverse provinces.  ...

...population underlie the population’s continuing support for the government’s approach toward negotiation and reintegration of armed opposition groups. There is not much choice. V. Bruce J. Tolentino is The Asia Foundation’s country representative in Afghanistan. He can be reached at btolentino@asiafound.org. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the individual author and not those of The Asia Foundation....

...Asia, and Allen Choate looks at how Japan’s citizens and government pulled from past lessons in the face of disaster. Results from The Asia Foundation’s 2011 Survey of the Afghan People reveal growing levels of fear among citizens, writes V. Bruce J. Tolentino. Survey authors Fazel Rabi Haqbeen and Mohammad Osman Tariq examine Afghans’ optimism about reconstruction and trust in...