Griffith-Waseda research collaboration in disaster risk reduction and resilience in the Asia Pacific

Griffith Asia Institute Visiting Fellow, Dr Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary is welcomed by Dr Tapan Sarker, Director (Engagement) , Professor Dian Tjondronegoro,Deputy Head (Research) and Professor Rosemary Stockdale, Head of Department from the Department of Business Strategy and Innovation. (Photo supplied)

Griffith Asia Institute and the Department of Business Strategy and Innovation welcomes Visiting Fellow, Dr Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary from the School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, Japan.

Dr Taghizadeh-Hesary has published on a wide range of topics, including energy economics, green finance, small and medium-sized enterprises finance, monetary policy, and banking. His credits include authoring more than 60 academic journal papers and book chapters and co-editing six books including: “Monetary Policy and the Oil Market” (Springer, 2016), “Japan’s Lost Decade: Lessons for Asian Economies” (Springer, 2017) and “Handbook of Green Finance: Energy Security and Sustainable Development” (Springer, 2019).

Tsunami damage, Solomon Islands 2007. (Photo: AusAID)

As part of the Griffith Asia Institute Visiting Fellowship Scheme, Farhad will be conducting research on financing infrastructure for disaster risk resilience in Asia-Pacific region in collaboration with Dr Tapan Sarker.

Dr Sarker, who recently co-authored a publication with Dr Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary, Professor Naoyuki Yoshino (Dean and CEO of the Asian Development Bank Institute) andAline Mortha (Waseda University), said he was honoured to be working with Dr Taghizadeh-Hesary.

“This is a great opportunity to focus on our research in areas such energy economics, climate change and regional integration.”

Kitakami, Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan 2011. An aerial view of Ishinomaki, Japan, a week after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated the area. (US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl Ethan Johnson/Released)

The research published by the Asian Development Bank Institute examines the impact of quality infrastructure, development indicators, and corruption on damages caused by a natural disaster using a panel data from fourteen Asian and Pacific countries between 2007—2017.

The results suggest that increasing the quality of infrastructure may have a large impact on decreasing costs arising from natural disasters, and that policy makers should use public—private cooperation and schemes to prompt the construction of quality infrastructure.

Preliminary findings of the research have been published by the Asian Development Bank Institute as ADBI Working Paper no 991 Quality infrastructure and natural disaster resiliency.