The Hindu Business Line : Infrastructure investment to reap demographic dividends

ABOUT a year ago, the world's focus was on the Indian Ocean because of the devastating earthquake and the Tsunami that caused large-scale destruction too suddenly for the affected nations to cope with. Despite the subdued mood that 2005 thus opened with, "the year produced the fastest global economic growth for almost three decades, estimated at 4 per cent," notes the UN's Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2005 from Academic Foundation (www.academicfoundation.com).

The survey, prepared by ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), is about `dealing with shocks'. Economic growth in the region has become more autonomous in the last few years with the rapid increase in intra-regional trade, notes the survey. The Kuala Lumpur summit, now in progress, is only aimed at taking the idea of FTA (free trade area) forward in the Asean (Association of South-East Asian Nations).

Part II of the book discusses macroeconomic performances, issues and policies of countries in the region. Here are a few snatches: In Uzbekistan, women make up nearly 60 per cent of the officially unemployed. The GDP growth rate of Hong Kong was 7.9 per cent in 2004 compared to 3.2 per cent in 2003. The Auditor General's reports in Fiji and the Ombudsmen's reports in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu provide frequent evidence of corruption in the public sector. And in Vietnam, tax revenues increased robustly in 2004, despite a reduction in the enterprise income-tax rate from 32 to 28 per cent.

The third and final part of the book is on ageing, where the survey notes that the still moderate rate of ageing in large economies such as India and Indonesia is a positive sign. Yet, "the Asian and Pacific region has 80 million unemployed youth, indicating that it has yet to make the demographic dividend effective." A case of wasted dividends? Essential read for the macro-minded.

Be a big-picture person

No way that you can spare two years? Here's The Shorter MBA, by Barrie Pearson and Neil Thomas, from Profile (www.vivabooksindia.com).

The book provides essential wisdom through 17 lessons divided in three parts — personal development, management skills, and business development. "What am I good at? What do I enjoy doing or would enjoy, given the chance? What kinds of business would I like to work in or to own? What are my assets? What work situations, frustrations and stresses do I wish to avoid?" These are questions that you first ask, to launch yourself on the `high achievement' path. Next comes the `time management' lesson where the authors point out that, "Time management is not an end in itself. It is the means to an end."

A chapter on `personal marketing' emphasises the need to become an expert, and to volunteer for project teams. Also, be a big-picture person, advise the authors. "Always portray yourself as someone who looks at problems, issues and opportunities within the wider context of the company or group, rather than taking a personal stance, which could be interpreted as selfish, or merely a departmental view, which may be seem as blinkered."

Don't miss the two long-chapters — finance and HR.

Impact of transport and energy

The Asian Development Bank (www.adb.org) has brought out an interesting publication, Assessing the impact of transport and energy infrastructure on poverty reduction. The well-researched study, authored by Cynthia C. Cook, Tyrrell Duncan, Somchai Jitsuchon, Anil Sharma, and Wu Guobao, is part of a regional technical assistance (RETA) project to find how far transport and energy investments contribute to poverty reduction. A key finding is that the benefits have reached the poor and the non-poor; but "for some of the poorest of the poor, village improvements in transport and energy infrastructure may produce net negative effects on welfare," where they were producing local goods and services "that cannot stand up to market competition".

Power grid reform adds to the bottomline, as you'd learn from Li Fagui, "a 49-year-old chicken farmer". He invested 20,000 yuan in 1998 to establish a chicken farm of 3,000 birds, informs the book, through one of the many cases that form part of the survey.

"Owing to the unstable supply of electricity on his farm, each chicken could only produce an average 18 kg of eggs, costing 70 yuan and generating revenue of about 80 yuan."

After power reforms, there was a more stable power supply to the farm, leading to a 10 per cent rise in revenue per chicken. Li's after-tax profit more than doubled!

Enlightening read, with scores of tables and cartoons! Investment in infrastructure may help reap the demographic dividends that ESCAP talks about.

BooksOfAccount@TheHindu.co.in

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Infrastructure investment to reap demographic dividends