Prof. Dr. Hal Hill – Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies

Prof. Dr. Hal Hill

Australian National University
Southeast Asian Economies

External Senior Fellow
June – July 2015

Last Update: 31.08.2015

Curriculum Vitae

Hal Hill is the H.W. Arndt Professor of Southeast Asian Economies at the Australian National University. His general research interests are the economies of ASEAN, including country case studies and thematic, comparative work; industrialization and foreign investment in East Asia; regional (sub-national) development; and the political economy of development. He is the author or editor of 18 books and has written about 150 academic papers and book chapters. He is an occasional oped contributor to Australian and Asian newspapers and magazines, and a radio/TV commentator. He has worked as a consultant for the Australian Government, the Indonesian Government, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and several United Nations agencies. He has held visiting appointments at Gadjah Mada University, the University of the Philippines, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, the University of Oxford, the International University of Japan, the Tinbergen Institute, Columbia University, University of Freiburg, and the National University of Malaysia. He serves on the editorial board of 13 academic journals.

Selected Publications

Hill, H. (ed), Regional Dynamics in Decentralized Indonesia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. 2014.
Hill, H. and M.S. Gochoco-Bautista (eds), Asia Rising: Growth and Resilience in an Uncertain Global Economy, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2013.
Hill, H. Tham Siew Yean, Ragayah Haji Mat Zin (eds), Malaysia’s Development Challenges: Graduating from the Middle, Routledge, London, 2012.
Balisacan, A. and H. Hill (eds), The Philippine Economy: Development, Policies and Challenges, Oxford University Press, 2003.
Hill, H. The Indonesian Economy, Cambridge University Press, second edition, 2000.

FRIAS Project

Managing Globalization in a Dynamic Region: The Southeast Asian Experience

This project will provide a forward-looking, integrated, coherent, comprehensive, empirically-driven and rigorous analysis of the Southeast Asia’s economic transformation and social progress over the past half century, together with its political economy underpinnings. The 10 countries of Southeast Asia – Brunei, Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – have achieved great development success, most importantly rapid reductions in poverty for their 620 million inhabitants, as well as increased regional identity and coherence. Several of these economies have been among the most dynamic in the developing world since the 1970s. Others have made a remarkable transition from conflict, international isolation, chaotic central planning to join the regional and international mainstream. In spite of the progress, however, serious challenges remain. Inequality has increased in several countries, and hard-core poverty is extremely difficult to overcome. Moreover, the impact of growth and globalization has been uneven, with poor and by-passed regions missing out on development opportunities. Corruption remains endemic in several countries, and there is little generalized improvement in governance quality. Social and fiscal challenges are quickly emerging as a result of the rapid demographic transition and consequent ageing of the population. In addition, the growth momentum in two of the more advanced countries, Malaysia and Thailand, has slowed, raising fears of a ‘middle-income trap’. Environmental challenges are immense, associated with the emergence of mega cities and the management of fragile marine and tropical forest eco systems.