The Middle-Income Trap: Some Asian Experiences and Lessons

Abstract

What explains why only a handful of countries which have attained middle-income level have subsequently been successful in attaining income convergence with high-income countries, while most of their peers falter?The problem most face has been labelled as the "Middle-Income Trap." How, precisely, does the trap impact once-promising economies, and can China, the world's second largest economy, escape the trap? Are there examples China can emulated? The following pages elucidate these issues.

Transitioning to a Progressive Green Economy in the Philippines

“…Agricultural land coverage has increased too (see Figure 10), but it seems to have little impact on long-term food security, as the country has scaled up rice and vegetable importation in recent years. Researches on transnational landgrabs in the Philippines (Lopez, 2017; Rutten, 2016; Salerno, 2018) and a deficient or stalled if not a completely failed land reform scheme (Elvinia, 2010; Sharma & Jha, 2016; Tadem, 2015; You, 2014), which still leave/left millions of farmers landless or land-starved also further highlight the uselessness of improved agricultural land coverage, in the lens of genuine sustainable development. Another case of growth without equitable and sustainable development can be gleaned from the status of the country’s fish resources.…”