This book provides the annual update of Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) indices and rankings of the cost of living for ordinary residents and expatriates as well as wages and purchasing power for ordinary residents, covering 105 cities around the world over the period of 2005-2016. These indices reflect the notable differences in the cost of living for expatriates and ordinary residents as expatriates tend to have different consumption patterns than that of their local counterparts. This is important because the cost of living of expatriates is often mistaken for that of ordinary residents. This book is the fourth edition in the series.In addition to providing the annual updates of the cost of living, wages, and purchasing power indices, this book also has a special chapter covering two topics of interest. The first compares the discrepancies between the cost of living indices and rankings between ordinary residents and expatriates in different regions. The second provides a case study on Singapore's HDB resale market and the role that the public sector can play in housing markets.

This book provides a valuable compendium of annual indices and rankings of cost of living for expatriates and cost of living, wages and purchasing power for ordinary residents in 105 world's major cities over the period 2005-2015. Now in its third edition, the ACI's study reflects salient differences in costs of living for expatriate and ordinary urban dwellers which arise from variations in their lifestyles and consumption preferences. This is of critical significance as cost of living for the former is usually conflated as that for the latter by the general public.

Drawing on the studies by the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), National University of Singapore (NUS), this book titled Balanced, Sustainable and Competitiveness Enhancement Study for Vietnam: A Critical Evaluation with Development Potentials, which is a joint research collaboration between the National Research Project on Improving Vietnam's Competitiveness and ACI-LKYSPP-NUS, provides a detailed assessment of the Vietnamese economy. We contend that Vietnam is at a critical juncture in its development whereby a new wave of far-reaching reforms is required to address persistent structural weaknesses and unleash the country's economic potentials. In addition, Vietnam's new growth model must tackle widening regional disparities which puts Vietnam at risk of becoming one country with two economies where the southern region of Vietnam pulls too far ahead of its northern and central counterparts. Based on our analysis, we propose a comprehensive policy roadmap for Vietnam to achieve balanced and sustainable development for enhanced competitiveness. The successful completion of this reform agenda will set Vietnam firmly on a dynamic growth path which will allow the country to catch up with the more advanced ASEAN member states by 2040.

There has been broad-base growth in wealth for cities all over the world, albeit increasingly unequal within and across cities. Some cities tend to grow faster than others, especially those emerging cities in Asia. We tend to observe longer periods of economic expansions compared to downturns with increasing volatility due to external shocks as cities are also increasingly open and interconnected. Such volatility would mean a less stable macroeconomic environment for cities causing fluctuations in prices and unemployment, as well as shares between private and public consumption.Cost of living, wages and purchasing power therefore become important key benchmark indicators to track and monitor the basic living standard for cities, not just by employers and employees; they matter even more for policymakers, multinational corporations and government of the day, politically. This book is thus a valuable compendium studies on 109 major cities around the world whereby the cost of living, wage and purchasing power indices were tracked and monitored, for both average residents and expatriates, which tend to be vastly different. Annual Indices for Average Residents and Expatriates is currently the only publication that provides comparable data on cost of living across cities for both average residents and expatriates. Cost of living analysis on the latter, widely available in published works, is often mistaken or confused as on the former! This book provides a tool to analyse questions of the differences in the cost of living in cities across the globe between ordinary city dwellers and professionals who work abroad.

A rising proportion of the global population are moving to cities in search of a better standard of living. However, although urbanisation has its benefits, unchecked urbanisation can lead to a host of challenges, such as congestion and limited access to public services. As such, the concept of urban liveability has been garnering more attention from policymakers and academics who are interested in mitigating the negative effects of urbanisation.In this context, the Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) has released the 2018 Global Liveable and Smart Cities Index (GLSCI), the third in its series of liveability indices. The GLSCI attempts to measure the liveability of an average resident in a city. More importantly, this year's edition has added considerations to the concept of smart cities and the role that these technologies can play in augmenting the liveability of a city's residents. It also builds on ACI's past liveability indices by expanding the number of cities in the index to 78, notably with African cities for the first time. In addition, this book includes two case studies on liveability. The first one concerns the relationship between a city's liveability, smartness, connectivity, and agglomeration, while the other is a case study on the 99-year lease of public housing in Singapore.

"This book provides the annual update of Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI) indices and rankings of the cost of living for ordinary residents and expatriates as well as wages and purchasing power for ordinary residents, covering 105 cities around the world over the period of 2005-2016. These indices reflect the notable differences in the cost of living for expatriates and ordinary residents as expatriates tend to have different consumption patterns than that of their local counterparts. This is important because the cost of living of expatriates is often mistaken for that of ordinary residents. This book is the fourth edition in the series. In addition to providing the annual updates of the cost of living, wages, and purchasing power indices, this book also has a special chapter covering two topics of interest. The first compares the discrepancies between the cost of living indices and rankings between ordinary residents and expatriates in different regions. The second provides a case study on Singapore's HDB resale market and the role that the public sector can play in housing markets."--

This book is the fifth annual project of the Asia Competitiveness Institute studying competitiveness at the sub-national level of Greater China. ACI's flagship competitiveness study adopts a comprehensive framework to measure competitiveness by incorporating 102 indicators under four environments and 11 sub-environments. By undertaking the study at the sub-national level, it accounts for the considerable disparities within a large economy like Greater China. The study's unique methodology incorporates comparative strengths and weaknesses, and what-if policy simulations aimed at policy suggestions for each sub-national economy and region.A new feature of this competitiveness study introduces the concept of Shapley value for the assignment of weights to the various indicators that constitute competitiveness. This methodological innovation not only adds an element of objectivity in terms of the assignment of weights, but also validates the robustness of results obtained from the competitiveness studies over the past years.Moreover, the empirical research featured in this book attempts to understand the drivers of FDI inflows to Mainland China, with a specific focus on exchange rate movements and volatility. Nowadays with the international flows of goods and capital becoming ubiquitous and comprising an important aspect of national competitiveness, the role of exchange rate is drawing much more policy attention. In view of this, the research findings presented in this book make an important academic and policy contribution by empirically examining the relationship between FDI inflows and exchange rate.Finally, the timing of this publication makes it indispensable to include the interpretation and reconciliation of policy development of China after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in October 2017. With the growing prosperity of its people and the improvement of its international status, China would 'realise the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation and see the people realise their aspirations for a better life.' As such, China has achieved the transformation from regaining dignity to becoming prosperous and growing strong to be a great modern socialist country visualised by President Xi Jinping. This book attempts to investigate the vision of 'growing strong to be a great modern socialist country' from different aspects.