Financial Crisis In Asia And The Pacific Region: Its Genesis, Severity And Impact On Poverty And Hunger

Building on a vast recent literature on finance, growth and hunger, the authors have examined the experience of 9 Asian countries over the period 1960-2006, using a state-of art-econometric methodology. Although the results are mixed depending on the specification and variables used, there is some evidence favouring a positive role of finance on GDP and agricultural value added growth. But there is also evidence of a reverse causality between GDP and agricultural growth on financial development. In fact, there are a few cases in which the causality runs both ways. In light of this complexity, the results of finance on inequality and hunger require cautious interpretation.