Growth Perspective and Challenges for Asia: Areas for Policy Review and Research

Abstract

Against the background of trade and domestic policy reforms underway in ADCs, the paper begins by highlighting the issues in macroeconomic policy reform. This provides a background for examining the role of external factors in influencing the sustainability of policy reform in ADCs. Factors that are domestic or internal to the ADCs are then analyzed for assessing the need for and sustainability of policy reform. The core of the paper is concerned with the implications of the above on designing a research agenda to examine and analyze issues related to policy reform and growth strategy in the ADCs. Three aspects are highlighted. First, there is a need to assess the availability of export markets for ADCs in light of changing industrialized country growth rates, the emerging international trading system and growth of intra-Asian markets. Second, the impact of the above on growth strategy and policy in the ADCs needs to be established. Third, increasing the policy content of decision making on investment activities will call for research efforts in integrating sector with project analysis. The paper ends with a brief discussion of modalities for promoting research on policy issues in the ADCs.