This book presents recent findings about the consequences and policy implications of economic stress for human capital development and family well-being in Asia. The scope of the chapters goes beyond the impact of current financial crisis to include the effect of economic deprivation families in Asia experience as a result of job loss, low-wage employment, and catastrophic natural calamities. The studies show how macro-level economic stress can filter down through households to affect individuals’ economic and socio-psychological well-being. The chapters reveal a wide spectrum of economic stresses experienced by families in Asia that is linked to poor human capital development, emotional distress, health problems, changing fertility patterns, more frequent geographic movement, and less supportive parenting behavior. The elderly, women, children, low-skilled workers are particularly vulnerable. The economic shocks in the past several decades have exposed the vulnerability of the family institution and the weaknesses in this region’s social protection system that can lead to detrimental long-term effects on human capital development. This book is relevant for researchers and students in fields such as Family Studies, Globalization, Development, Social Problems, Social Stratification, Social Inequalities, Poverty and Welfare, Education, and Social Policies.

Human capital—the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives—is a central driver of sustainable growth, poverty reduction, and successful societies. More human capital is associated with higher earnings for people, higher income for countries, and stronger cohesion in societies. Much of the hard-won human capital gains in many economies over the past decade is at risk of being eroded by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Urgent action is needed to protect these advances, particularly among the poor and vulnerable. Designing the needed interventions, targeting them to achieve the highest effectiveness, and navigating difficult trade-offs make investing in better measurement of human capital now more important than ever. The Human Capital Index (HCI)—launched in 2018 as part of the Human Capital Project—is an international metric that benchmarks the key components of human capital across economies. The HCI is a global effort to accelerate progress toward a world where all children can achieve their full potential. Measuring the human capital that children born today can expect to attain by their 18th birthdays, the HCI highlights how current health and education outcomes shape the productivity of the next generation of workers and underscores the importance of government and societal investments in human capital. The Human Capital Index 2020 Update: Human Capital in the Time of COVID-19 presents the first update of the HCI, using health and education data available as of March 2020. It documents new evidence on trends, examples of successes, and analytical work on the utilization of human capital. The new data—collected before the global onset of COVID-19—can act as a baseline to track its effects on health and education outcomes. The report highlights how better measurement is essential for policy makers to design effective interventions and target support. In the immediate term, investments in better measurement and data use will guide pandemic containment strategies and support for those who are most affected. In the medium term, better curation and use of administrative, survey, and identification data can guide policy choices in an environment of limited fiscal space and competing priorities. In the longer term, the hope is that economies will be able to do more than simply recover lost ground. Ambitious, evidence-driven policy measures in health, education, and social protection can pave the way for today’s children to surpass the human capital achievements and quality of life of the generations that preceded them.

Families in Asia provides a unique sociological analysis of family trends in Asia. Stella R. Quah uses demographic and survey data, personal interviews and case studies from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam to provide a wide-ranging comparative analysis of family trends and the role of the state and social policy. Focusing on the most relevant and significant aspects of family and kin, chapters include: Concepts and research trends Family forming Parenthood Grandparenthood Gender roles in families Marriage breakdown The impact of Socio-economic development This new edition has been updated and expanded throughout and includes new material on dowry, singlehood, adoption, the transformation of the senior generation, changes in family courts and the role of the state in family wellbeing. Families in Asia will be the perfect companion for students and scholars alike who are interested in family sociology, public and social policy, and Asian society and culture more broadly.

This book is an annual effort by the economists from the Nanyang Technological University to provide analysis, interpretations and insights on contemporary economic issues affecting Singapore.In 2010, Singapore's economy was just recovering from the sharp economic downturn in 2008/09 caused by the Global Financial Crisis. The global economic outlook in the short and medium term remained uncertain and the risk of another economic or financial crisis remains high. Thus, one of the key themes of this book is to study economic crises and financial crises, and the policy measures that are available to manage them.Looking ahead, in order to ensure long term growth and prosperity for Singapore's economy, microeconomic policy adjustments and fine-tuning is still needed to build a competitive and resilient nation. Therefore, the second key theme of the book is to review several public policies in Singapore, such as competition, healthcare, training, free trade agreements, state capitalism and inequality.

Since Emmy Werner and her team discovered on the Hawaiian island of Kauai the “invincible” children who fared well despite exposure to significant household risks, there has been proliferating research on child resilience as a positive response to adverse conditions. The past five decades have seen significant advancements in, and diverse approaches to understanding challenges, facilitative factors, and positive outcomes in the resilience process that involve children. Despite existing and continuously emerging modelings and framings, there appears a common understanding that child resilience unfolds through the interactions between individuals and the environments surrounding them. This Research Topic, therefore, takes an ecological approach to child resilience. While ecologies constitute social spaces that nurture child resilience, they can also refer to the “physical” environments surrounding children. There has been robust empirical evidence suggesting resilience is a shared capacity of the individual and the social ecology (e.g., families, schools, and communities), and more recently of the individual and the physical ecology (e.g., the built or natural environment).

Financial Literacy in Today's Global Market presents a comprehensive overview of financial literacy in the global world. Written by authors from various academic centers, the book provides knowledge, recommendations, and practical solutions to new challenges within the contemporary processes of financial globalization, financial literacy, and the international market. Financial Literacy in Today's Global Market provides up-to-date knowledge about the science of finance, which in practical elements translates into the quality of socioeconomic life. This book raises many issues related to the processes taking place before our eyes on global financial markets, which influence the change in the ways and possibilities of human functioning in economic life. Financial technologies (FinTech) are some of the most important factors for the intelligent and sustainable development of knowledge-based economies. The selection of topics discussed herein reflects the growing importance of the world of finance, including the impact of information technologies on socioeconomic development and changes in the organization of financial flows. The global financial market is the subject of interest for many technical and social sciences and is associated with the interpenetration of technical, organizational, marketing, social, and psychological processes. All these elements are combined with modern knowledge about the processes taking place in the global world of finance. The book discusses changes in the global environment as\ a result of the revolution of financial processes in society, which are the foundation of every economy.