41 research outputs found
Informal Trade and Underground Economy in Myanmar : Costs and Benefits
No full textAt present, collecting and analyzing data from inside Myanmar remains notoriously difficult. There is, therefore, a non-Myanmar approach towards the majority of studies on Myanmar. This is especially the case when dealing with informal or illegal trade within the country’s territory. IRASEC and the Observatory on Illicit Trafficking wanted to fill this gap by giving the floor to Professor Winston Set Aung, the founder and the director of the Asia Development Research Institute, and director of the Asia Language and Business Academy in Myanmar. He is also an MBA lecturer at the Institute of Economics in Yangon and is involved in several international and regional research programs in partnership with various research institutes including the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; Tokyo University, Japan; and the Institute for Security and Development Policy of Sweden, Stockholm Environmental Institute. The focus of Professor Winston Set Aung’s study is to provide a Myanmar-centric perspective on informal or illegal trade. The author offers an analysis regarding the process of informal exchanges through a pragmatic and non-contextualized critique. The causes of informal and illegal exchanges are identified and described without commenting on their origins. This intentional, measured, and calculated conservative perspective enables us to think on how to best use these flows in the current political situation in Myanmar. It seems therefore useful and relevant to make this data available to our readers
INFORMAL TRADE AND UNDERGROUND ECONOMY IN MYANMAR: COSTS AND BENEFITS
No full textStudy of Winston Set Aung. ISBN 978-616-7571-01-0 Free download in: http://www.irasec.com/index.php?option=com_irasec&task=publication_detail&publicationid=319Myanmar, the second biggest country in terms of area in mainland South East Asia, borders five neighboring countries: China, Thailand, India, Bangladesh, and Lao PDR. Myanmar's longest borders are with China (approximately 1,357 miles) and Thailand (approximately 1,314 miles), and it shares coastal waters with Malaysia and Singapore. Informal activities and informal moment of goods and people have been quite significant due to many factors. Although various policy measures have been developed to mitigate these informal activities, there has not been any study regarding the sources of these informal activities, their costs and benefits, impacts and consequences of the existence and non-existence of these activities, or how these activities could be mitigated without having significant negative economic and social impacts on the local people and the economy as the whole. This paper attempts to identify factors behind causes and effects of informal flows in goods and persons across the borders between Myanmar and its neighboring countries, especially China and Thailand, and to address related issues and possible policy implications. This paper is a result of various surveys and studies in many places in Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, and China from 2005 to 2009 under several research projects. [Free download in: http://www.irasec.com/index.php?option=com_irasec&task=publication_detail&publicationid=319
Informal Trade and Underground Economy in Myanmar
No full textAt present, collecting and analyzing data from inside Myanmar remains notoriously difficult. There is, therefore, a non-Myanmar approach towards the majority of studies on Myanmar. This is especially the case when dealing with informal or illegal trade within the country’s territory. IRASEC and the Observatory on Illicit Trafficking wanted to fill this gap by giving the floor to Professor Winston Set Aung, the founder and the director of the Asia Development Research Institute, and director of the Asia Language and Business Academy in Myanmar. He is also an MBA lecturer at the Institute of Economics in Yangon and is involved in several international and regional research programs in partnership with various research institutes including the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; Tokyo University, Japan; and the Institute for Security and Development Policy of Sweden, Stockholm Environmental Institute. The focus of Professor Winston Set Aung’s study is to provide a Myanmar-centric perspective on informal or illegal trade. The author offers an analysis regarding the process of informal exchanges through a pragmatic and non-contextualized critique. The causes of informal and illegal exchanges are identified and described without commenting on their origins. This intentional, measured, and calculated conservative perspective enables us to think on how to best use these flows in the current political situation in Myanmar. It seems therefore useful and relevant to make this data available to our readers
Shadow Economies and State Disconnection: Myanmar’s Policy Paradox
No full textapplication/pdfIDP000993_001This paper examines how well-intentioned economic policies have contributed to the growth of the shadow economy in Myanmar. The shadow economy includes informal activities in trade, investment, and foreign exchange that operate outside effective regulation. Many of these practices lie in an ambiguous space that is neither fully legal nor entirely illegal. The study argues that policy interventions designed to reduce informality frequently produce the opposite outcome. Evidence from periods before and after the 2021 coup shows that unrealistic policies detached from market realities and administrative capacity alienate economic actors from formal institutions. These dynamics make informality a rational response to structural limitations. As informal responses deepen, the shadow economy becomes increasingly entrenched.technical repor
Part 1. Myanmar’s cross-border trade
No full textAlthough legal cross-border trade is not very significant, accounting for only 7 percent of the total value of trade in Myanmar, the value of undocumented trade is sizable. It is estimated that the value of border trade accounted for around 25 percent of Myanmar’s total value of trade in 2006. Myanmar neighbors China, India, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Lao PDR. In terms of legal border trade value, Myanmar’s trade with China and Thailand accounts for 47 and 51 percent, respectively, o..
