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Begin New Search Political Geography Southeast Asia Content Type Research Paper

1. The Great Supply Chain Shift from China to South Asia?

Author:
Ganeshan Wignaraja
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
Global supply chains connect world industry and international trade in manufactures. East Asia’s dominance with China as the preferred assembly hub in global supply chains has brought unprecedented regional prosperity, but South Asia remains a latecomer. However, pandemic-related and post-pandemic continuing disruptions to supply chains and slowing growth are being keenly felt, dampening China’s attractiveness. In an uncertain global economy, increasingly footloose foreign investors are looking for alternative production locations. Is it South Asia’s turn to prosper through supply chains in this uncertain world? This is the topical public policy question facing India and the others in South Asia. This paper discusses the concept of global supply chains, the industrial rise of East Asia, drivers of supply chain relocation from China, South Asia’s prospects, India as a complementary hub and policy lessons from East Asia’s industrial success. For the purposes of this paper, South Asia is broadly defined as the India and its contiguous countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Topic:
Industrial Policy, Monetary Policy, Foreign Direct Investment, Industrialization, COVID-19, Supply Chains, and Geoeconomics
Political Geography:
China, South Asia, Asia, Southeast Asia, and United States of America

2. Gender Digital Equality Across ASEAN

Author:
Araba Sey
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
This paper provides an overview of the participation of women in the digital economy across ASEAN. By using available data sources, it compares and analyses levels of women participation in digital economy related occupations and activities across different ASEAN Member States. Overall, the analysis shows that the gap between women and men is bigger with respect to more advanced metrics of access to the digital economy (including skills; entrepreneurship opportunities; access to science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and tech occupations) than for more basic access metrics. Access to digital economy related occupations and activities is particularly important for ASEAN, which is amongst the fastest growing digital economies in the world. The shift towards digital technologies during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is accelerating pre-pandemic trends and making it even more relevant to gain a better understanding of women participation in the digital economy. The paper concludes by providing an overview of policy initiatives in ASEAN Member States and details possible policy options.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Inequality, Digital Economy, Leadership, and Feminism
Political Geography:
Asia and Southeast Asia

3. The Link Between Global Value Chain Activity and Local Human Capital: Evidence from Indonesia’s Manufacturing Sector

Author:
Rashesh Shrestha and Deborah Winkler
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
For developing countries, participation in global value chains (GVCs) provides an opportunity to expand domestic human capital. Since GVC firms require qualified workers to meet high production standards, they have an incentive to invest directly in their workers’ skills or to raise the demand for skilled workers, which indirectly creates an incentive for workers to enrol in vocational education. This paper explores the relationship between GVC activity and workers’ skills in Indonesia. It combines National Labor Force Survey (SAKERNAS) data with the Large/Medium Industry Survey (IBS) to construct a pooled cross-sectional data set of Indonesian manufacturing workers which takes into account measures of GVC activity at the district-sector-year level. The findings suggest that higher GVC activity in a worker’s district-sector-year is linked to a higher likelihood of vocational education of individual workers. A separate panel data analysis at the district level confirms the positive relationship between GVC activity and human capital. Finally, the results indicate that the wage premium for vocational education is higher in districts with greater intensity of GVC activity.
Topic:
Development, Education, Training, Manufacturing, Industry, and Global Value Chains
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Asia, and Southeast Asia

4. Getting to Grade 10 in Viet Nam: Challenges from Deprivation, Discrimination, and a Booming Job Market

Author:
Ian Coxhead, Nguyen Vuong, and Phong Nguyen
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
Viet Nam has enjoyed more than a generation of rapid economic growth, led by labour-intensive exports. This form and pace of growth has increased schooling opportunities, but has also reduced incentives for some students to advance to higher education. We hypothesise that these conflicting influences help explain another puzzle – the relatively slow growth of educational progression to upper secondary school. Slow and unevenly distributed increases in schooling attainment are warning signs for the sustainability of future aggregate growth and for the distribution of growth gains. We use a new data set on participation rates and scores in an exam to enter Grade 10, the first year of upper secondary school, to analyse the variation in test participation rates due to demand- and supply-side factors. The data are drawn from less advanced provinces within Viet Nam. As such, they shed light on the challenges of expanding educational development at the extensive margins of lower socio-economic status and higher grades, especially in areas with large ethnic minority populations.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Employment, Economic Growth, Training, and Job Creation
Political Geography:
Asia, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia

5. Fuelling the Engines of Liberation with Cleaner Cooking Fuel

Author:
Tushar Bharati, Yiwei Qian, and Jeonghwan Yun
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
Using the staggered roll-out of the Indonesian Conversion to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Programme, we show that a subsidy for the labour- and time-saving cooking technology increased female labour force participation. The programme also increased household consumption expenditure and the decision-making power of women in the household, especially in financial matters. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the benefits of switching to LPG far outweighed the costs to the households. Based on previous research, we conjecture that intra-household externalities and gender differences in preferences drive the low rates of adoption of cost-effective technology. The programme’s impact on the financial decision-making power of women suggests that subsidies which empower women, even if temporary, can encourage the adoption and sustained use of beneficial technology.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Science and Technology, Labor Issues, Women, and Family
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Asia, and Southeast Asia

6. Understanding Quality Energy-Related Infrastructure Development in the Mekong Subregion: Key Drivers and Policy Implications

Author:
Han Phoumin, Sopheak Meas, and Hatda Pich An
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
Many players have supported infrastructure development in the Mekong Subregion, bridging the missing links in Southeast Asia. While the influx of energy-related infrastructure development investments to the region has improved the livelihoods of millions of people on the one hand, it has brought about a myriad of challenges to the wider region in guiding investments for quality infrastructure and for promoting a low-carbon economy, and energy access and affordability, on the other hand. Besides reviewing key regional initiatives for infrastructure investment and development, this paper examines energy demand and supply, and forecasts energy consumption in the subregion during 2017–2050 using energy modelling scenario analysis. The study found that to satisfy growing energy demand in the subregion, huge power generation infrastructure investment, estimated at around $190 billion–$220 billion, is necessary between 2017 and 2050 and that such an investment will need to be guided by appropriate policy. We argue that without redesigning energy policy towards high-quality energy infrastructure, it is very likely that the increasing use of coal upon which the region greatly depends will lead to the widespread construction of coal-fired power plants, which could result in increased greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions.
Topic:
Development, Energy Policy, Infrastructure, Renewable Energy, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:
China, Asia, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Southeast Asia, Laos, and Myanmar

7. The COVID-19 Pandemic and the World Trade Network

Author:
Kozo Kiyota
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
Global trade is expected to suffer a significant contraction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Did the relative importance of countries in the world trade network change as a result of the pandemic? The answer to this question is particularly important for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries because of their strong trade linkages with China, where the COVID-19 virus originated. This paper examines how the world trade network has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on ASEAN countries. Tracking the changes in centrality from January 2000 to June 2020, we find no evidence that centrality changed significantly after the pandemic started for most ASEAN countries. Our results suggest that the relative importance of the ASEAN countries in the world trade network is unchanged and will remain unchanged even after the pandemic.
Topic:
Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Asia and Southeast Asia

8. How Is the Asian Economy Recovering from the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence from the Emissions of Air Pollutants

Author:
Kazunobu Hayakawa
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
This study empirically examines how economic and social activities in Asia were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by using the emissions amounts of various air pollutants to represent those activities. Review of the emissions data suggests that from 2019 to 2020, the amount of emitted air pollutants decreased in most subnational regions in Asia. Data also show how economic and social activities have restarted in some regions; regression analyses are used to uncover the regions that restarted early. Regional characteristics are identified by employing a remotely sensed land cover dataset (i.e. ESALC) and OpenStreetMap. Results reveal that for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, economic and social activities in cropland, industrial estates, accommodations, restaurants, education, and public services still have not returned to normal.
Topic:
Environment, Economy, Pandemic, COVID-19, Air Pollution, and Economic Recovery
Political Geography:
Asia and Southeast Asia

9. The COVID-19 Pandemic, Air Transport Perturbation, and Sector Impacts in ASEAN Plus Five: A Multiregional Input–Output Inoperability Analysis

Author:
Tamat Sarmidi, Norlin Khalid, Sufian Jusoh, and Muhamad Rias K.V. Zainuddin
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
This study simulates the sector impacts of demand-side perturbations on air transport sectors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on ASEAN members plus Australia, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and New Zealand. This study involves (i) the generation of a multiregional input–output table from the latest Global Trade Analysis Project data, (ii) a network analysis to determine the importance of the air transport industry in each country, (iii) multiplier and linkages analyses, (iv) determinations of sector impacts from demand-side perturbations on air transport sectors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and (v) simulation of the effect of fiscal and monetary measures to mitigate the pandemic’s impact. This study demonstrates that the aviation industry is a key sector in domestic and regional economic activities, and the reduction in air transport consumer demand due to the pandemic is estimated to cause gross domestic product (GDP) reductions from 0.4% to 2.1%. Government intervention, through fiscal and monetary policies, has, however, mitigated severe impact, moderating GDP and value-added losses. Thus, a viable policy prescription for the aviation industry is of utmost importance.
Topic:
Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Travel
Political Geography:
Asia and Southeast Asia

10. COVID-19 and Services Trade in ASEAN+6: Implications and Estimates from Structural Gravity

Author:
Anirudh Shingal
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
Given the importance of services for economic activity in general and the salience of reducing service link costs for overcoming the economic and health challenges emanating from COVID-19, we examine the implications of the pandemic for services trade in the original group of ASEAN+6 countries that began negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement. Our analysis reveals that with the exception of the Philippines and Viet Nam for services exports, and Cambodia and India for services imports, up to half of total services trade for all other sample countries could be adversely affected by the pandemic. In the absence of bilateral services trade data for 2020, we proxy the impact of COVID-19 on services trade using bilateral data on announced greenfield investment in services sectors from fDi Markets. Structural gravity estimates suggest that a 1% increase in COVID-19-related deaths in the source country may have reduced ASEAN+6 bilateral greenfield investment by US$0.15 million in 2020 relative to the corresponding value in 2019.
Topic:
Investment, Services, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Asia and Southeast Asia