As the region emerges from the pandemic, businesses should adopt more flexible approaches to developing talent for digital jobs, while workers must embrace lifelong learning of digital skills. As one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, Asia and the Pacific has witnessed rapid digitisation in recent years. While the trend was evident before the […]
Cloud-based services can provide solutions for banks and other financial institutions that serve the poor and people in remote areas. Without access to financial services, individuals and small businesses are unlikely to achieve prosperity and upward mobility. To reach those who remain unbanked and underserved, financial solutions must be delivered at low cost and be […]
How to finance action against climate change was a key topic at the United Nations COP27 Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh. For the Philippines, on the front lines of the global climate emergency, it is a make-or-break question. Living in one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change, people in the Philippines […]
Women need to be engaged in designing, implementing, and monitoring climate-smart agriculture. With a food crisis and climate change affecting millions of people in Asia and the Pacific, equipping female farmers with technology, support, and resources, is a win for women and food security overall. Women play critical roles in food systems as producers, processors, […]
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises play a crucial role across the water and sanitation value chain. They need innovative financing solutions to help millions of people obtain clean water and decent sanitation. An estimated 500 million people in Asia and the Pacific do not have access to a basic water supply, and 1.14 billion people […]
As World Cancer Day puts the spotlight on one of the world’s most devastating ailments, the situation in Asia needs greater attention. The pandemic has put a spotlight on health system resilience around the world. Demands on health care provision have skyrocketed in record time and brought some health care systems to the brink of […]
Asia’s vast global diaspora – which includes many skilled, highly educated and prosperous people – is a strong potential source of financing for the region’s infrastructure and other development needs. Developing countries in Asia need massive infrastructure investment of $1.2 trillion annually, and the need jumps to $2.1 trillion if we also consider other factors […]
The decline in the employment share of routine jobs is typically attributed to technological and organisational change. This column uses firm-level data to understand the nature of these changes in Germany. The authors find that workers in routine jobs in fact move to more skilled jobs after technological and organisational change. This suggests that technological […]
The European Union has so far weathered the energy crisis brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and will manage winter 2022/23 even if Russia abruptly halts all pipeline gas flows. However, preparations must be made for winter 2023-24. In particular, gas storage facilities should be 90 percent full by 1 October […]
Large digital firms pose similar competition issues worldwide, such as promoting their own services over those of rivals, or imposing unfair terms and conditions. Competition authorities have opened several antitrust investigations and policymakers have proposed digital competition regulations to tackle these issues. G7 competition authorities have called for several years for international cooperation on digital […]
