Public Sector Capacity Building and Trade Policies

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has embarked on a large initiative to analyze the impact of globalization on developing nation-states through their Regional Initiative on Human Development Reports for Asia and the Pacific. Through the Department of Economics and Social Affairs (DESA), the Capstone team has conducted a consultative analysis examining the inter-relationships between public sector capacity and trade policy. Governments that pursue public sector building capacity and reform key variables of trade policies will see significant effectiveness in economic growth and subsequently reduce poverty and inequitable distributions of wealth. Using the Association of Southeast Asian Nations trading bloc as a case study, the Capstone team identified current practices of public sector capacity reforms that had been implemented in an effort to achieve favorable trade results. The Capstone team analyzed these cases and gained insight into the elements necessary for building public sector capacity that will enable nation-states in Southeast Asia to achieve economic growth.