This book examines the concept and public service value of social equity in public administration research and practice outside of the Western context, considering the influence that historical, cultural, and social trends of Asian and Pacific societies may have on how social equity is conceptualized and realized in the Asia-Pacific region. The book presents the results of an effort by a group of scholars from seven countries (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, The Philippines, and Singapore), one American State (the Hawaiian Islands), and the Pacific Islands to discover what social equity means in their respective contexts. It concludes by synthesizing and analyzing the chapter authors’ findings to advance a more global conceptualization of social equity.

Asia’s rapid economic growth has led to a significant reduction in extreme poverty, but accompanied by rising inequality. This book deals with three questions: What have been the trends of inequality in Asia and the Pacific? What are the key drivers of rising inequality in the region? How should Asian countries respond to the rising inequality? Technological change, globalization, and market-oriented reform have been the key drivers of Asia’s remarkable growth and poverty reduction, but they have also had significant distribution consequences. These three drivers of growth cannot be hindered because they are the sources of productivity improvement and betterment of quality of life. This book will be useful to those interested in policy options that could be deployed by Asian countries in confronting rising inequality.

"Beginning from a recognition of the fact that, as individuals, the way we think of social justice will depend on our understanding of who we are, Identity, Equity and Social Justice in Asia Pacific Education recognises and responds to the wide range of contextual and cultural perspectives informing notions of social justice across Asia Pacific educational environments. While frequently featuring as a key concept in both policy and practice, social justice is understood differently by educators and policy makers in different nations and regions. Case studies of equality and justice, fairness and equity, within educational institutions of the Asia Pacific, inform innovative contributions here to wider contemporary scholarly and public debates. This book will facilitate a more nuanced understanding of the cultural dimensions of social justice, and allow future researchers to apply new frameworks of understanding that can be expected to be of increasing relevance to educational practice." -- Publisher's website.

Equity is an abstract concept covering philosophical issues such as fairness and social justice, making its definition and measurement complex. This volume tackles these complexities head-on. The book is enriched with many empirical analyses and provides a comprehensive analysis of equity ranging from concepts and measurements to empirical illustrations and policy implications. After an extensive discussion on equity in the introduction, this volume begins with a chapter on well-being where the concepts of functioning and capability are discussed. This is followed by a few chapters on what an equitable distribution is and how equity can be measured. The volume then provides a definition and a methodology to measure equitable growth, examining the relationship between growth, inequality, and poverty. It also presents various empirical illustrations and country-specific experiences with three country case studies which assess whether publicly provided health and education services are equitable in developing Asia, examining the extent to which these social services favor the poor as well as the policy challenges to a more equitable delivery of these services. Finally, these country studies provide evidence–based policy recommendations to improve equity in social service delivery in developing countries. Achieving social equity has long been an important policy goal. There are relatively few studies on equity. This book aims to help fill this gap with an in-depth analysis of the issues associated with equity, covering its concept, measurement, and policy practices and implications.

While Asia’s growth record in recent decades is remarkable, it has been marred by rising inequalities. This book looks at recent trends of income and non-income inequalities in developing Asian countries, discusses their underlying driving forces, and examines key policy issues that need to be addressed to ensure that the benefits of growth will be more equitably shared in Asia. The book also presents a set of country studies that provide rich information on growth, poverty and inequality dynamics and the policy challenges that arise in marching toward inclusive growth.

This book records the history of Japan’s international cooperation in education from the 1950s to 2020. It provides a crucial overview of the nearly 70 years since Japan began engaging in international cooperation in education in order to record and document these efforts that range from basic to higher education to technical and vocational education and training, and the large numbers of people involved in their respective areas of activity and specialization. The book provides useful indicators for exploring new forms of education cooperation in this age of global governance and beyond. The authors include not only researchers but also field practitioners, such as personnel from the Japan International Cooperation Agency and NGOs. Chapters 1, 3, 5, 9, 12 and 15 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book analyses the development challenge faced by Latin America at a time at which the concerns for the large inequality in the region are at a peak. This volume focuses on growth-with-equity, and is written by an outstanding group of Latin American and international researchers and policy-makers.