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.

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.

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).