Rural wages are rising in Asia, and the strongest drivers are demographic changes and the growth of manufacturing.
▶Sharada Keats is Research Officer at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in the United Kingdom. She specializes in agricultural development economics and has previously worked in this capacity as a research assistant at the University of Reading, and at the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. She is currently involved in a project looking at causes and consequences of the recent boom in global staple food prices.