Asia Regional Integration Center

Jong Woo Kang is principal economist at the Economic Research and Cooperation Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He is a seasoned economist with extensive knowledge and experiences on policy and strategic issues. He was senior advisor to the managing director general of ADB and senior economist at Strategy and Policy Department at ADB. He leads the annual publication of Asian Economic Integration Report. Areas of his research interest include regional integration, inclusive growth, macroeconomic and international trade policies, and aid effectiveness. He has published research articles in academic journals such as Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Applied Economics, and Journal of World Trade, and wrote numerous blogs and opinion articles on global macroeconomy and international trade and finance. Before joining ADB, he was director at Ministry of Finance and Economy of the Republic of Korea. He got his BA in economics and MA in public administration from Seoul National University, and PhD in economics from University of Washington.

Tetsushi Sonobe is the Dean and CEO of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Tokyo-based think tank of the Asian Development Bank that promotes the realization of a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific through policy research and capacity building.

Born in 1960 in Tokyo, Dean Sonobe obtained his PhD in economics from Yale University and BA in economics from the University of Tokyo. His research interests are centered on the empirics of economic development, particularly the roles of industrial clusters, human capital, social capital, management practices, and market competition in industrial development in developing Asia and other regions.

Before joining ADBI in April 2020, Dean Sonobe served for six years as a vice president of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo and taught economics for thirty years at Tokyo Metropolitan University and GRIPS. Dean Sonobe is a recipient of the Nikkei Book Publication Prize and the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize, and a founding board member of the Japanese Association for Development Economics.

Yasuyuki Sawada is chief economist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and director general of its Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department. He is chief spokesperson on economic and development trends and leads the production of ADB’s flagship knowledge products and support for regional cooperation fora.

Before joining ADB, Mr. Sawada was professor of economics at the University of Tokyo and has led numerous large-scale development policy evaluation projects for various institutions. His key research areas are development economics, microeconometrics, economics of disasters, and field surveys and experiments. Mr. Sawada obtained his PhD in economics from Stanford University.

Antonella Liberatore is a statistician/analyst at the OECD Statistics and Data Directorate. She contributes to the development of international guidance to deal with the emerging challenges in measuring international trade, notably with respect to global value chains, digitalization of transactions and trade by mode of supply. She is in charge of the OECD balanced trade datasets (for merchandise and services) and is responsible for the International Trade Pulse, a monthly note describing the short-term trade developments in times of COVID-19. From 2010 to 2019, Antonella was a statistician at the World Trade Organization. She was responsible for the production and dissemination of all data products related to trade in services statistics, including the Trade in Services by Mode of Supply dataset (TISMOS). Antonella holds a MS in applied economics from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (Spain) and a MS in management engineering from Politecnico di Milano (Italy).

Joseph Mariasingham is a senior statistician at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) where he leads statistical capacity building initiatives in the agriculture statistics, economic statistics, and statistical infrastructure domains. The projects he currently leads span more than 20 economies in the Asia and Pacific Region. He was responsible for the development of the Asia-focused Multi-region Input Output Database or ADB MRIO, and the statistical business register system suite ADB-SBR. Joseph started his career at Statistics Canada in 1999 and specialized in SNA and input-output economics. He earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in economics from Queen’s University (Canada).

Rupa Chanda is the RBI Chair Professor of Economics and Dean Programmes at the Indian institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore. She has earlier worked as an economist at the IMF and briefly served as Head, UNESCAP Subregional Office for South and South-West Asia in New Delhi. Rupa received her PhD in economics from Columbia University and her bachelor’s from Harvard University. She teaches macroeconomics and international trade and has received teaching awards. Her research interests include the WTO, trade in services, regional integration, and migration. She has undertaken research and consulting assignments for international organizations such as the WHO, OECD, UNDP, EC, Commonwealth Secretariat, and ADB, for the Indian and UK governments, and for civil society organizations and research think tanks. She has published extensively in the form of books, journal articles, book chapters, and reports. She is active professionally as a research guide, reviewer, and member of committees. She was member of the WHO’s Review Committee on the functioning of the International Health Regulations (2015–2016) and the WHO’s Expert Advisory Group, International Recruitment of Health Personnel (2019–2020).

Jane Drake-Brockman is a widely published, internationally recognized expert on trade and development, global value chains and regional integration, and one of Asia and the Pacific’s foremost experts on trade and competitiveness in services. Her current research focus is digital trade. She brings a mix of experience formed across business, academia, government, and multiple international government organizations, having served with the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, OECD Secretariat in Paris and International Trade Centre in Geneva. A former senior diplomat and trade negotiator, she held the position of Chief Economist in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade and Charge d’Affaires at the Australian Delegation to the EU in Brussels. She founded and co-chairs the Asia Pacific Services Coalition, has a close long-standing association with APEC and practical background in trade and regional integration projects across Asia and the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean.

Jane is a member of the G20-Trade and Investment Research Network (https://g20-tirn.org), a participant in the 2021 Digital Governance Consultation Group of the Global Solutions Initiative (https://www.global-solutions-initiative.org) and Co-Chair of the THINK20 Taskforce on Trade, Investment and Growth. She is lead author of forthcoming T20 Policy Brief “Digital Trade: Top Trade Negotiation Priorities for Cross-Border Data Flows and Online Trade in Services” and in 2020, was lead author of T20 Policy Brief “Impact on Trade in Services of Digital Technologies and the 4th Industrial Revolution”, published at https://t20saudiarabia.org.sa/en/brief s/Documents/T20_TF1_PB4.pdf.

Erik van der Marel is a senior economist at the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), associate professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and consultant economist at the World Bank. His areas of expertise are in digital trade, services trade, cross-border data flows, and digital services trade policy.

Prior to his appointment at ECIPE, Erik was a full-time lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE) where he taught international trade at post-graduate level. In the past, Erik also gained various professional experience as a consultant at the European Commission, OECD, APEC, and the World Bank Trade Research Department. Erik received his PhD in international economics from Sciences-Po Paris and a post-doctorate from the LSE.

Erik has written many articles, including in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, working papers and reports, as well as contributions to World Bank reports on services and digital trade and domestic regulations in digital and services trade, and global value chains. He has also provided various capacity building courses for policy makers in developing countries.

Peter Morgan is Senior Consulting Economist and Vice Chair of Research at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), and has been with ADBI since 2008. He has 23 years experience in the financial sector in Asia, most recently serving in Hong Kong, China as Chief Asia Economist for HSBC, responsible for macroeconomic analysis and forecasting for Asia. Previously, he served as Chief Japan Economist for HSBC, and earlier held similar positions at Merrill Lynch, Barclays de Zoete Wedd and Jardine Fleming. Prior to entering the financial industry, he was a consultant for Meta Systems Inc in Cambridge, MA, in energy and environmental analysis, and at International Business Information KK in Tokyo, in financial sector consulting. He earned his MA and PhD degrees in economics from Yale University. His research interests are in macroeconomic policy and financial sector regulation, reform, financial development, financial inclusion, fintech, financial literacy, and financial education.

Rolando Avendano is an economist at the Economic Research and Cooperation Department of the Asian Development Bank. His research focuses on financial and international economics, with an emphasis on regional integration, competitiveness, and Asia’s impact on emerging economies. Prior to joining ADB, he worked for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France. He was partnership coordinator of PARIS21 (OECD Statistics and Data Directorate), economist with the Director’s Office and the Americas Desk (OECD Development Centre), and research associate with the OECD Trade Directorate and Economics Department. Previously, he was a lecturer at the Engineering Faculty of University of Los Andes (Colombia), and research associate at University College London (UK). A French and Colombian national, he holds a BSc in industrial engineering from University of Los Andes and a Masters and PhD in economics from the Paris School of Economics (PSE).

Ben Shepherd, the Principal of Developing Trade Consultants (DTC), is a trade economist and international development consultant. He has worked on a wide range of trade and development issues with organizations such as the World Bank, the OECD, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. He specializes in providing policy-relevant research, as well as capacity-building seminars for researchers working in trade and development. He has published more than 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals and a similar number of published chapters, in addition to five books. Ben’s particular areas of expertise include trade policy, global value chains, trade facilitation and logistics, trade in services, and global trade modeling.

Prior to starting DTC, Ben was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University’s Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. He holds a PhD in economics from France’s leading public policy school, the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). He has also completed graduate studies at Cambridge University in the UK, and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

Jahm Mae Guinto is a consultant at the Asian Development Bank. She holds an MA degree in Economics from the University of the Philippines and is currently a PhD in economics candidate from the same university. Currently, she is involved in research related to the digital economy, global value chains, and taxation.

Guido Porto is a professor of economics at the University of La Plata in Argentina. Before joining the University of La Plata, he was an economist in the Research Department of the World Bank. Guido received his BA in economics from the University of La Plata in Argentina, masters in economics from Instituto Di Tella in Argentina, and PhD in economics from Princeton University. His research focuses on the econometric estimation of the impacts of trade policies in low income countries, including impacts on poverty, household welfare, wages, and the distribution of income. He also studies how economic agents—such as households, workers, and firms—adjust to trade reforms and trade shocks.

Rogelio Mercado is an economist at the Regional Cooperation and Integration Division of the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department of ADB. He contributes to various division publications and knowledge products. His research interests include capital flows, financial integration, financial stress, portfolio allocation, asset price discovery, financial inclusion, and economic convergence. Rogelio has published in international journals including Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Futures Markets, Review of Income and Wealth, and co-authored several book chapters.

Prior to joining the ADB in July 2020, he was a senior economist at the South East Asian Central Banks Research and Training Centre where he developed and delivered training courses on macroeconomics and monetary policy and led the publication of the SEACEN Capital Flows Monitor. He was a lecturer in economics at Newcastle Business School, after completing his PhD in economics from Trinity College Dublin. Rogelio previously worked at the National Economic and Development Authority, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, De La Salle University, and Ateneo de Manila University.

Wonhee Cho is currently a senior economics research associate of the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department in ADB. She conducts economic research focusing on tourism in developing Asia. Her assignments heavily evolve around the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to joining ADB, she was a research assistant of Angelo King Institute at De La Salle University, where she co-authored the quarterly and annual Philippine Economic Monitor reports. She also previously worked with the Central Bank of the Philippines on a research project. She holds degrees in Bachelor of Science in Applied Economics and Master of Science in Economics from De La Salle University.

Kijin Kim is an economist in the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, Asian Development Bank. Since he joined the ADB in 2017, he has been working on trade, trade facilitation, and trade finance within the context of regional cooperation and integration (RCI). He contributed to ADB’s publications on these areas including the Asian Economic Integration Report, Trade Finance Gaps, Growth, and Jobs Survey, and Trade Facilitation and Better Connectivity for an Inclusive Asia and Pacific.

Before joining ADB, he was a research fellow of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois since 2012. From 2004 to 2010, he worked as economist at the Bank of Korea. He earned his PhD in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2016, focusing on research within the fields of regional economics and applied econometrics, centered on the role of labor markets, the effects of heterogeneity in consumption spending, and labor market participation on regional economies.

Pramila Crivelli is an economist in the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Her main fields of specialization are applied econometrics in international trade policy, regional trade agreements, trade negotiations, rules or origin, nontariff measures and geographical indications. At ADB, her portfolio also covers APEC and regional public goods.

Prior to joining ADB in November 2020, she was an assistant professor at the Goethe University Frankfurt leading the Chair of International Trade. Her work has been published in academic peer reviewed journals including the Journal of International Economics and the World Economy.

She received her PhD from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She accumulated extensive experience in applied economic policy and technical cooperation serving as an economic affairs officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, researching at the European University Institute and the World Trade Organization, and carrying out consultancies for various clients in Asia and Africa. She has a strong expertise in delivering capacity building and advisory services to governments, public and private institutions, and trade negotiators in multilateral and regional fora.

Henry Gao is an associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University and Dongfang Scholar Chair Professor at Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade. With law degrees from three continents, he started his career as the first Chinese lawyer at the WTO Secretariat. Before moving to Singapore in late 2007, he taught law at University of Hong Kong, where he was also the Deputy Director of the East Asian International Economic Law and Policy Program. He has taught at the IELPO program in Barcelona and the Academy of International Trade Law in Macau, and was the Academic Coordinator to the first Asia-Pacific Regional Trade Policy Course officially sponsored by the WTO. Widely published on issues relating to the People’s Republic of China and WTO, Henry has advised many national governments as well as the WTO, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, APEC, and ASEAN on trade issues. He sits on the Advisory Board of the WTO Chairs Program, which was established by the WTO Secretariat in 2009 to promote research and teaching on WTO issues in leading universities around the world. He is also a member of editorial board of Journal of Financial Regulation, which was launched by Oxford University Press in 2014.

Minjung Kim served as a research fellow at the Asia Center of Seoul National University (SNU) from 2014 to 2015 and a senior specialist at Korea Development Institute (KDI) School of Public Policy and Management from 2016 to 2017. Since joining the Center for International Commerce and Strategy of SNU in 2018, she published numerous academic papers in journals like Journal of World Trade (2018) and Global Policy (2020) and co-authored several books regarding WTO and FTAs. Currently, Minjung conducts research, lectures, and provides policy advice on various trade law and policy issues, including technical barriers, development cooperation, and digital trade. Her work has been sponsored by grants from Korea’s National Research Foundation (2014-2017, 2020-present). She obtained an MPP degree in international relations from KDI School of Public Policy and Management (2002) and a PhD in international studies from SNU Graduate School of International Studies (2014).

Bruno da Silva is an assistant professor in international tax law at the University of Amsterdam and a guest professor at Catholic University in Lisbon (Portugal). He is also an international tax consultant at ADB. He obtained a PhD in international tax law from the University of Amsterdam and LLM in international tax law from Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Pitchaya Sirivunnabood is currently a capacity building and training Economist at the ADBI. Her expertise is international economics and finance, specializing in regional economic integration and financial cooperation as well as bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, development of financial markets, and international/ transnational investment.

Prior to joining ADBI, Pitchaya was an assistant director and the head of finance integration division at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia. She was senior researcher, providing policy advocacy and consultancy for a Thai government think tank, the UNDP’s Asia Pacific Regional Office, and the European Association for Business and Commerce. Pitchaya was also an assistant director and macroeconomist at the ASEAN Integration Monitoring Office, in charge of surveillance and monitoring process for the ASEAN Economic Community. She holds a PhD in international economics (trade and finance) from the University of Utah, United States.

Lennon Yao-Chung Chang is a senior lecturer in criminology in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. He is the vice chairman of the Asia Pacific Association of Technology and Society which he co-founded in 2012. He is also the founder and director of Cyberbaykin: Myanmar Cyber Security Awareness campaign. He has been appointed as Ambassador for the Cyber Security Capacity Maturity Model for Nations by the Victorian Government-funded Oceania Cyber Security Centre in 2020. His research is highly topical and he has been invited by the governments of Australia; Canada; Taipei,China; the Republic of Korea; Myanmar; and Hong Kong, China to discuss his research findings with senior national security, foreign policy, and policing staff. Lennon’s professional interests in cyber security and technology and society continue and he is currently researching co-production of cyber security and internet vigilantism in the Indo-Pacific region. He is also working with governments and NGOs in ASEAN countries on research and training programs to build cyber security capacity and cyber security awareness.

John Beirne has been a research fellow at the Asian Development Bank Institute since March 2019. His research interests are centered on international finance and macroeconomics. Previously, he worked at the European Central Bank for over 10 years mainly on research and analysis of global financial market developments, commodities, and financial stability, as well as global governance issues. He has also worked for a shorter period at the IMF, in academia, and as an economic consultant in the private sector. He holds a PhD in economics from Brunel University in the United Kingdom, and has published over 25 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of International Money and Finance, Economic Modelling, Review of International Economics, Emerging Markets Review, and China Economic Review.

Minjung Kim served as a research fellow at the Asia Center of Seoul National University (SNU) from 2014 to 2015 and a senior specialist at Korea Development Institute (KDI) School of Public Policy and Management from 2016 to 2017. Since joining the Center for International Commerce and Strategy of SNU in 2018, she published numerous academic papers in journals like Journal of World Trade (2018) and Global Policy (2020) and co-authored several books regarding WTO and FTAs. Currently, Minjung conducts research, lectures, and provides policy advice on various trade law and policy issues, including technical barriers, development cooperation, and digital trade. Her work has been sponsored by grants from Korea’s National Research Foundation (2014-2017, 2020-present). She obtained an MPP degree in international relations from KDI School of Public Policy and Management (2002) and a PhD in international studies from SNU Graduate School of International Studies (2014).

Sanchita Basu-Das is an economist at the Regional Cooperation and Integration Division of the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department of ADB. She contributes to the division’s flagship publications, knowledge products and analytical studies. Her core research interests include regional cooperation initiatives and issues related to them, such as trade, logistics, industrial corridors, tourism, digital economy, institutions, and others. Sanchita has published in international journals including the Singapore Economic Review, Journal of World Trade and Asia Pacific Economic Literature, authored/edited books and book chapters, and wrote for media. Sanchita joined ADB in November 2018 and initially served as an economist in the South Asia Regional Department.

Prior to joining ADB, Sanchita was the lead researcher for economic affairs at the ASEAN Studies Centre of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. She was concurrently a fellow of the Regional Economic Studies Program, coordinator of Singapore APEC Studies Centre and a co-editor of Journal of Southeast Asian Economies (JSEAE), all housed under the same institute. Sanchita earned her PhD in international political economy from Nanyang Technology University, Singapore, and her masters in economics and business management from the University of Delhi and the National University of Singapore, respectively.

Jong Woo Kang is principal economist at the Economic Research and Cooperation Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He is a seasoned economist with extensive knowledge and experiences on policy and strategic issues. He was senior advisor to the managing director general of ADB and senior economist at Strategy and Policy Department at ADB. He leads the annual publication of Asian Economic Integration Report. Areas of his research interest include regional integration, inclusive growth, macroeconomic and international trade policies, and aid effectiveness. He has published research articles in academic journals such as Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Applied Economics, and Journal of World Trade, and wrote numerous blogs and opinion articles on global macroeconomy and international trade and finance. Before joining ADB, he was director at Ministry of Finance and Economy of the Republic of Korea. He got his BA in economics and MA in public administration from Seoul National University, and PhD in economics from University of Washington.