Asia Economics Blog

This post draws from a paper presented at the 2025 Allied Social Science Association Annual Meeting in the ACAES session on Digitalization in Asian Economies. 
 
Co-Authors: Willem Smit; Kun Fu; Yothin Jinjarak; Cynthia Petalcorin

Digital technologies enable perpetual innovation in how businesses create and deliver customer value. These technologies present especially promising opportunity drivers for new entrepreneurs since established businesses tend to focus on optimizing their existing business models which may hamper their ability to take advantage of the latest digital opportunities. We explore the effects of digitalization on business experimentation and performance by means of a 2020 survey of entrepreneurs for six countries in Southeast Asia.

Co-authors: Norma Mansor; Halimah Awang
 
Malaysia is experiencing a demographic transition characterized by a steady increase in the number and proportion of elderly persons in the population. The share of population over age 65 is projected to rise from 7.5 percent in 2020 to 14.5 percent in 2040. Yet even as health and longevity have improved greatly, employment rates among older workers have declined.

Extension of the working life would benefit older persons by augmenting income security and providing a sense of fulfillment. It would benefit society at large by mitigating worker shortages and reducing the burden of elder care. Many countries have raised or are considering raising the statutory retirement age. However, extending the retirement age is a viable policy option only insofar as improved health of older persons allows them to be productive without risk to their well-being. We estimate the potential for longer working lives by treating a drop in mortality among older persons as a proxy for improved health and employment capacity.

Co-Authors: Shiela Camingue-Romance; Irfan Qureshi; Shu Tian.

To halt the spread of Covid-19, Asian countries have imposed varying forms and degrees of restrictions, ranging from nationwide lockdown – e.g., India and Malaysia – to much more targeted policy responses – e.g., Japan and Korea. The diversity of restrictions across the region reflects the diversity of technological, administrative, and other country-specific factors. For example, Korea did not have to resort to stringent restrictions because it has a technologically advanced contact tracing system. But the Korean experience is unlikely to be relevant to countries that do not have advanced technology and strong administrative capacity.