Chart of the Week | March 24, 2023
RISING PROMINENCE OF “MADE IN VIETNAM”
While it seems that China will continue as the world’s super factory and leading exporter, Vietnam is increasingly exporting products similar in structure to Chinese exports.
Featured Research
India’s 2020 FDI restrictions: What it meant for China’s outward greenfield FDI
In times of uncertainty, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, policymakers are compelled to make high-risk and quick decisions that may go against their broader policy mandates. At the onset of the pandemic, the Indian government mandated a clearance requirement for new FDI projects from land-border sharing economies. It was widely understood that these new FDI…
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Nepal’s Digitalisation Journey: Experiences and Challenges in Digital Transformation and the Future Ahead
ACI collaborated with NIPoRe to host a webinar titled Nepal’s Digitalisation Journey: Experiences and Challenges in Digital Transformation and the Future Ahead on February 23th, 2023. Prof Paul Cheung, Director of Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) delivered his welcome remarks and highlighted the importance of digitalisation and the speed of Nepal’s digitalisation. He also shared how…
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A tiered approach to measuring digital competitiveness of Asian Economies
As digital transformations continue to happen at breakneck speeds around the world, the rise of the digital economy has become impossible to ignore. How long can you survive at work, school, or even otherwise without access to the internet? The value of the digital economy in our lives rests in answer to the question. As…
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What can online job postings say about the labor market dynamics in Singapore?
Online job postings complement official labor market data well and, therefore, reflect the skills and qualifications in demand in a timelier manner. A study by ACI uses job posting data from JobTech, Singapore’s leading AI talent intelligence startup, to monitor and understand local labor market dynamics. The data constitute nearly the entire universe of job…
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The Debate on International Trade and Wage Inequality Continues: The Case of Mexican Firms and Competition from China
International trade has been rightfully touted as an engine of economic growth, but its impact on the labor market might differ among different economies. Over the last few decades, China’s unsurpassable growth numbers have caught the world’s attention. The labor-intensive economy of China has been the focus of numerous international trade studies, with the impact…
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How difficult is it to balance purpose with profit? Know it from Singapore’s B Corps
Paradoxically, in today’s times of increased sensitivity to environmental issues, businesses with clear loyalty to sustainability are subject to more scepticism than ordinary corporations. A study by ACI surveyed 12 (out of 19) B corporations in Singapore to understand the challenges faced by these companies, and strategies employed to cope with them. The Certified B…
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Investment, Infrastructure, ICT in Jakarta: Emergence from Covid-19 and Development Outlook
Jakarta’s massive infrastructure development and growing digital sector kept the economic slump at bay during the covid-19 pandemic. A recent study by ACI tracks Jakarta’s emergence from the pandemic and its socioeconomic progress vis-à-vis the province’s medium-term development plan (RPJMD). It finds that the province’s digital sector showed resilience amidst the economic contraction induced by…
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From digital to real economies: Lessons from Singapore’s Digital Economy Agreements
As digitalization tightens its grip on the world economy, countries have sought to enhance and deepen their digital cooperation. Proliferating digital trade and the limited scope of digital commitments in the trade agreements paved the way for Digital Economy Agreements (DEA). DEAs are inter-governmental treaties that “establish digital trade rules and allow for digital economy…
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Taking stock of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs): Asia and beyond
ACI hosted a webinar CBDC and the Digital Economy: Insights for Asian Emerging Markets on September 28th, 2022. Dr. Taojun Xie was the moderator, Prof. Yiping Huang and Dr. Ammu George were the presenters. On the panel were industry experts – Her Excellency Dr. Serey Chea, Dr. Taimur Baig, and Dr. Xuan Wang. Dr. Xie…
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Indonesia’s Riau Islands turn the corner: A deep dive into its post-pandemic emergence and growth
An essential determinant of a region’s resilience to the pandemic is its socioeconomic composition. A recent study by ACI evaluates Indonesia’s Riau Islands’ emergence from the pandemic by tracking the province’s socioeconomic development vis-à-vis the provincial government’s Regional Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMD). It finds that Riau Islands “emerged relatively unscathed due to its reliance on…
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Book Launch | Annual Competitiveness Analysis and Socio-Economic Development of Indonesian Sub-National Economies
A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia’s economy shows signs of recovery in 2021: The country has seen a 3.2 percent annual GDP growth this year, compared to a contraction of 2.1 percent a year earlier. The 2021 growth is mainly driven by the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and wholesale and retail trade sectors.…
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Book Launch | 2021 Annual Indices for Expatriates and Ordinary Residents on Cost of Living, Wage and Purchasing Power for World’s Major Cities
This annual study analyses the cost of living, wages and purchasing power for expatriates and ordinary residents across 104 major cities in the world. In this edition, ACI has found that New York, Los Angeles, Zurich, Hong Kong, and Geneva continued to be the top-5 cities in the ranking for expatriates’ living costs. Whereas, for…
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Book Launch | Digitalising ASEAN: A Competitiveness Analysis
2021 has tested the ability of the AMS to weather a crisis. As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, disruptions to the global economy continue to cast a shadow upon the development of ASEAN. Amidst this, the economies of ASEAN have made the digital economy a key component of their strategy to achieve a new phase…
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How are Indonesia and Malaysia traversing the bumpy road to renewable energy?
Gone are the days when climate change was talked about in future tense – it is happening now and happening fast. With more extreme weather events battering the region, Southeast Asia (SEA) must champion not only disaster anticipation and preparedness but also disaster mitigation equally well. As energy consumption in the region is projected to…
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Book Launch | Shaping the Post-Pandemic Recovery: Annual Sub-national Competitiveness Analysis of India
2021 was a tough year for many Indian households, the national healthcare system, and the government due to the second wave of the COVID -19 outbreak. The ‘Delta’ variant outbreak dampened the country’s economic recovery. However, the impact of the second wave on economic growth was less adverse than the previous one. After contracting by…
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