This book is a comparative study of government and public policy in the twenty small states of the Pacific Islands, examining the often tense societal interactions over competing conceptions of public-sector institutions and authority, rule-making, and policy processes.

This edited collection examines seminal changes and major policy challenges in metropolitan governance in Asia and the Pacific Rim that are being faced by governments (national and sub-national) and their polities. The book builds upon the work of the largest stream at the Urban Affairs Association’s (UAA) Annual Conference (Urban Issues in Asia and the Pacific Rim) – specifically, the chapters arose from presentations at the 2016 UAA Annual Conference in San Diego and ensuing discussions and debates. The book is framed by three over-arching narratives: • the increased importance (economic, political and cultural) of the Asian region within strategic discussions of planetary urbanism and the problematisation of the concept of the Asian region as an element of these discussions • the challenges engendered by the rapid pace of development (again, economic, political and cultural) and the endorsement, tacit or otherwise, of developmentalism in many of the polities under consideration • the increased salience of metropolitan and urban areas, vis-à-vis other levels of governance (national; local; supra-national), particularly how it is seen as key in addressing these challenges.

The Asia-Pacific region has not only the greatest concentration of population but is, arguably, the future economic centre of the world. Epidemiological transition in the region is occurring much faster than it did in the West and many countries face the emerging problem of chronic diseases at the same time as they continue to grapple with communicable diseases. This book explores how disease patterns and health problems in Asia and the Pacific, and collective responses to them, have been shaped over time by cultural, economic, social, demographic, environmental and political factors. With fourteen chapters, each devoted to a country in the region, the authors take a comparative and historical approach to the evolution of public health and preventive medicine, and offer a broader understanding of the links in a globalizing world between health on the one hand and culture, economy, polity and society on the other. Public Health in Asia and the Pacific presents the importance of the non-medical context in the history of human disease, as well as the significance of disease in the larger histories of the region. It will appeal to scholars and policy makers in the fields of public health, the history of medicine, and those with a wider interest in the Asia-Pacific region.

This stimulating reference/text examines a wide range of issues and trends in administrative reform in the Newly Industrialized or Industrializing Economies (NIEs) of the Asia-Pacific Basin and offers detailed case studies illustrating the dynamics and etiology of reform protocols. Suggesting new ways of understanding reform within a bureaucratic or political framework, the Handbook of Comparative Public Administration in the Asia-Pacific Basin highlights the role of civil service training in fostering strategic, political, social, and economic changes in Hong Kong over the past decade, provides a roadmap into the labyrinth of China's gigantic financial system, and includes nearly 600 references, tables, and drawings.

This comparative analysis report, the second in a series, is part of ADB’s regional research and development project on tax administration that analyzes the administrative frameworks, functions, and performance of 21 economies in Asia and the Pacific. The initial version of this report was published in 2014. The primary objective of the series is to motivate governments and revenue officials by sharing knowledge of important developments and trends in tax administration practice and performance, and to identify opportunities to enhance the operation of their tax systems.

This book uses two international frameworks—the Millennium Development Goals and the Hyogo Framework for Action, a program focused on disaster risk management—to study the key trends in the region in terms of disaster incidence, sources of vulnerability and social and economic challenges. As both frameworks draw to a close, international debate is taking place during the period 2012–2015 on their current progress. This book seeks to help readers understand the process better. The chapters are written by eight independent internationally based authors. Collectively, they have extensive regional experience in the areas of disaster risk management and climate change as well as working in academia, research, consultancy, the UN and international agencies, government and the NGO sector. The analysis presented benefits from their varied backgrounds in medicine, architecture, economics, engineering, planning, social studies, development studies and political science. Throughout the book, relevant examples, drawn from the region, are included to ‘earth’ the project in the harsh realities of risk and disaster impact.

Contributors examine the persistence of administrative patterns in the face of pressures for globablization by developing a concept of administrative traditions and describing the traditions that exist around the world. They assess the impact of traditions on administrative reforms and the capacities of government to change public administration.

This project of the Asian Development Bank aimed to assist participating economies in implementing the 1993 System of National Accounts by compiling supply and use tables (SUTs). Aptly known as the SUT Project, it utilized the supply and use framework which is an integrated model that allows compilation of more reliable, consistent, and internationally comparable estimates of gross domestic product (GDP). The improved GDP estimates are expected to provide a better basis for measuring economic output and growth; informed policy making; and monitoring progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, relating especially to poverty alleviation. This publication presents the SUT concepts, practices, implementation strategies adopted, and the results of the SUT Project. It also includes the 28 products and 23 industries SUTs of the 18 participating economies, an abridged version of the SUTs, and an analysis of the economic structures based on the SUTs.

This publication features a broad suite of statistical indicators characterizing the supply-and-use interactions of economic sectors within and across 25 economies of Asia and the Pacific. The indicators include sector- and economy-specific multipliers and linkages, trade orientation and openness, participation in global value chains, patterns of product specialization, and domestic agglomeration, among many others. Supplementing these analyses are special chapters on the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the contribution of the digital economy, and the significance of activities related to real estate. All analyses and indicators draw on the Multiregional Input–Output database maintained by the Asian Development Bank.

Under which it proliferates. They know first hand that corruption jeopardizes security and economic growth, perpetuates poverty, and exacerbates social inequities. The knowledge has prompted the governments of more than half the world's population ...