Second East Asia Workshop

Singapore Workshop

January 12–13, 1999
Co-hosted by the World Bank and
The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

• List of Papers
• Abstracts of Papers Presented
• Participants
• Workshop Agenda

Summary of Proceedings

The Singapore workshop is one of a series organized by the World Development Report (WDR) Team for the 1999–2000 report. It was co-hosted with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) and was made possible by the generous support of the Government of Japan.

The purpose of the Singapore workshop was to discuss some of the varied experiences of urbanization, decentralization and globalization in South and South East Asia, to further inform the WDR 1999–2000. The workshop began with opening remarks by Professor Chia Siow Yue, ISEAS Director, Mr. Lyn Squire, Director of Development Policy in the Development Economics Division of the World Bank, and Mr. Shahid Yusuf, Director of the WDR 1999–2000. Over the course of the next two days, eleven draft papers were presented, each followed by commentators' remarks and a discussion that explored avenues for further elaboration of ideas presented in the papers. The workshop closed with remarks by Shahid Yusuf and Chia Siow Yue. The full agenda is available online.

The eleven papers cover a range of topics from urban development through processes of decentralization to financial policy and the effects of globalization, all drawing on regional case studies and many exploring the linkages between different developmental trends. The papers present empirical evidence and suggest institutional and policy responses across a broad range of fields.