Asia-Pacific Development Journal - Volume 13, Issue 2, 2007

This paper summarizes evidence suggesting that road improvement in rural areas can contribute significantly to lowering the incidence of poverty, improving educational participation of primary school aged children, and reducing rates of illness. This is done in the context of rural areas of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. It is widely recognized that rural roads in the countries are a major developmental problem. It seems obvious, just by inspecting these roads, that improving them would produce benefits. But demonstrating and quantifying the effects on indicators relevant to the Millennium Development Goals, such as the incidence of poverty, educational participation and health standards, is another matter.

Though positive impacts on rural development can be observed in diversified agriculture, statistical indicators have shown that agricultural diversification in Asian countries has stagnated over recent decades. Technological development is a dominant factor in determining the extent of diversification. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 259 respondents in eight Asian countries to establish the respondents priority of technological development goals that will potentially enhance agricultural diversification. The expected impacts of realizing these developments are also analyzed. The results showed that the development of pest tolerant crop varieties as well as economical measurements to improve soil fertility are given the highest priority among the 15 Research and Development (R&D) topics surveyed. Significant differences are observed among the responses received from researchers, extension staff and farmers, which indicate that awareness gaps regarding technological development exist among these stakeholders. Further efforts are necessary to formulate R&D activities to meet the demands of the farmers; the users of the technologies.

The present study investigates the behaviour of household saving by employing the Johansen-Juselius cointegration technique and error correction model to determine the long run and short run dynamics of the system respectively using “time-series” data for Pakistan over the period 1972-2003. The study found the existence of one cointegrating vector, indicating a valid long run economic relationship among the determinants of household saving.

Can migrant remittances be a viable and sustainable livelihood solution for households in semi-arid areas? The present study attempts to examine the impact and potential of remittances from rural migrants in providing a viable livelihood diversification and investment option in rural areas. Focusing on the migration pattern in selected villages of semi-arid and drought prone districts of Andhra Pradesh, India, the paper argues that remittances do provide a scope for accumulation of wealth and asset creation for households in addition to providing basic consumption needs. If this wealth is to become a viable sustainable private investment option in rural areas there is a need to address some policy, institutional factors and other dynamics whereby the remittances become more a productive instrument; instead of just a means for reducing household poverty.

Among all the island countries of the world, Vanuatu, a small island nation in the South Pacific with a population of 220,000 was once ranked as the most vulnerable economy on the basis of having the least resilience to withstand the adverse impacts of external and internal shocks. Vanuatu is currently designated, on the basis of quality of life, as one of the five least developed countries among the Pacific island countries, the other four being Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. Recognizing its special circumstances, including its high dependency on strategic imports with unstable export earnings, proneness to natural disasters and inadequate human resource skills, the international community has been assisting the country with generous external aid ever since its independence in 1980. Bilateral development assistance comes especially from the two regional powers. But, in terms of pure grants given on an annual basis, multilateral funding agencies, including the Asian Development Bank, have been assisting the country with concessional loans for projects and reform programmes. Despite these annual aid inflows, Vanuatu has been performing poorly which is reflected in the stagnation of its per capita income. This article seeks to examine the nexus between aid and growth in Vanuatu and investigates causes behind the country’s weak performance. Based on the analysis, the article then makes recommendations with some implications for policy.

This paper presents a coherent and systematic analysis of the collapse and subsequent revival of the Central Asian republics since 1990. The focus is on the pattern of growth and structural changes during the cycle of decline and subsequent revival in the Central Asian republics, which have yet to be adequately analysed in the literature on transition. The paper relates economic performance to initial conditions, country characteristics and policies. Within this framework, it proposes a simple typology of policies (including a new “type III” set of policies on regional cooperation and industrial competitiveness) and relates them to the cycle of decline and revival. It goes on to examine the medium-term prospects for and policy needs of the Central Asian republics.