The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Economic Association (IEA) are pleased to announce the three (3) best papers for the 2025 ADB–IEA Innovative Policy Research Award. The award-winning papers were selected from over 80 papers covering a wide range of economic topics. Each award-winning paper will receive a $7,000 grant financed by ADB. The prize will be formally awarded at the ADB-IEA award session of the 2025 ADB Annual Meeting in May 2025. To acknowledge research excellence, the announcement also includes honorable mentions of seven (7) high-quality papers. This research award is supported by the regional technical assistance project titled "TA 10406 REG: Accelerating Climate Action, Innovation, and Private Sector Development through Sector Operations."

Three Award-Winning Papers:

The Power and Pitfalls of Industrial Policy: Evidence from China by Yi Wei, (University of Oxford)

What a Terrible Thing to Waste: Providing a Market-based Alternative to Crop Residue Burning by Nan Sandi, (University of Oxford)

Labor market fragmentation: Data, jobs, and rising labor tensions by Desheng Wu, (Harvard Kennedy School); (Shanghai Jiao Tong University); Xie Yu, (Fudan University); Yuan Pei, (Harvard Kennedy School)

Honorable Mentions:

Can Broadband Internet Infrastructure Narrow the Income Inequality? An Analysis of the Effects of Broadband China Strategic Program by Yanlin Wan, (HKUST); Xu Zhang, (HKUST(Guangzhou)); Yarime Masaru, (HKUST); Mr. Hao Yuzhi

Special Economic Zones and firm performance: Evidence from Vietnamese Firms by Thao Trang Nguyen, (Unu-merit, Maastricht University); Karsten Mau, (Maastricht University); Treibich Tania, (Maastricht University)

Flooding and Firms in Indonesia by Azhar Hussain, (LSE)

Digital Finance and Gendered Labor Reallocation by Ashish Sedai, (University of Texas At Arlington); Sandhya Garg, (Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi); Rikhia Bhukta, (Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur)

Long-Term and Multi-Generational Impacts of Skilled Birth Attendance by Meiping Aggie Sun, Fordham University; YiyingYan, (Fordham University)

Impact of On-farm Demonstrations on Technology Adoption, Yield and Profitability Among Small Farmers of Wheat in Pakistan – An Experimental Study by Nadia Hussain, (Hiroshima University); Keshav Lall Maharjan, (Hiroshima University, Japan)

New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) Hypotheses: Linkage between Migration, Remittance and Agricultural Productivity in Nepal by Arju Pokharel, Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS)