Hitoshi Hirakawa is a Professor, specializing in Asian economies, at the Economic Research Center, Graduate School of Economics, Nagoya University, and Visiting Professor of Japanese Economy at Nankai University, Tianjin, China. He had previously taught at Tokyo Keizai University, Ibaraki University, and other academic institutions in Japan. Professor Hirakawa obtained his Ph.D. degree in Economics from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. He also holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan.Kaushalesh Lal earned his Ph.D. degree from Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He holds Master’s degrees in Physics, from Kanpur University, and in Operations Research, from the University of Delhi, India. Prior to joining United Nations University (UNU)-MERIT, the Netherlands, in 2003, he taught at the Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi, for almost 21 years. He has completed a full six-year term at UNU-MERIT. Presently, he is affi liated faculty to UNU-MERIT.Naoko Shinkai is an Associate Professor at Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan. She has many years of experience in research and development work on development economics and international economics issues, including trade policy, labor and productivity, growth and income distribution, fi nancial sector management, industrial development, and poverty reduction strategy. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan, Anu Arbor, the United States of America.Norio Tokumaru is Associate Professor at Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan. His research interest is in changing innovation systems in the ICT related industries in South and East Asia, including India, China, and South Korea, from the institutional and evolutionary perspectives.
