Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: M. Govinda Rao, NIPFP
India’s economy was one of the earliest to stage a turnaround after the global financial crisis.
The decisions taken in early 2008 to increase public-sector wages, forgive loans for farmers who had borrowed from the banks, and massively expand the rural-employment guarantee scheme assisted the economy before the global financial crisis unfolded in the last quarter of the year. Read more…
Author: Yoon Young-kwan, Seoul National University
After North Korea’s sinking of a South Korean frigate, Cheonan, and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010, inter-Korean relations did not improve much in 2011.
There was limited official contact between the South and the North and between the US and the North to discuss the possible resumption of Six-Party Talks or food aid. Read more…
Author: Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University
While Thai politics has long been unruly, it has rarely been so unsettled and intractable as in 2011.
Thailand has entered 2012 bruised and battered, even compared to previous bouts of political instability. Read more…
Author: Ishrat Husain, IBA, Karachi
Pakistan’s economy remained sluggish in 2011 due to domestic political instability, energy shortages, deteriorating Pakistan-US relations, global climate change and internal security concerns.
For the fourth year in a row, GDP growth in 2011-12 will fall below its long-term growth rate. Read more…
Author: Doan Hong Quang, World Bank
Consensus-based policy making is a salient feature of Vietnam, where important decisions are collectively made.
Consensus is needed not only for the formulation of a reform vision but also for the elaboration and implementation of this vision. Read more…
Author: Alicia Mollaun, ANU
In Pakistan, external shocks and unforeseen events defined 2011. But for the Western world and for Pakistanis, this past year will be remembered very differently.
Drones, floods, economic misery, developmental challenges and a fraught relationship with the US will stick in the memory of Pakistanis. While in the West, 2011 will be remembered as the year the US killed Osama bin Laden — only 50 kilometres from the Pakistani capital.
Author: Robert Ayson, Victoria University of Wellington
Visitors to New Zealand during the uneventful general election in November 2011, which returned John Key’s National Party to office, would be forgiven for thinking things were running smoothly.
This was helped by the fact that a few weeks earlier, New Zealanders gained the greatest prize they could wish for. This was not a Nobel Prize for their leading scientists; nor a temporary seat on the UN Security Council, which Mr Key’s government wants to secure; nor the competent hosting of the Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland, which came and went without much trace. Read more…
