The trend of total factor productivity (TFP) and GDP growth per capita in most East Asian countries is upward and in most West Asian countries is downward or fluctuating. In this regard, this study seeks to investigate the reasons for the difference in TFP and consequently economic growth in East and West Asia. This study specifically analyzes the role of human capital, institutional factors, and relative backwardness in the productivity differences between East and West Asian countries for the period 2000-2019. The importance of this issue is that the main economic growth of countries occurs through the channel of total factor productivity and the study of factors affecting productivity can reveal the reasons for the growth of East Asian countries and the backwardness of West Asian countries. In this study, by forming two separate groups from East and West Asia, the model is estimated using the static GMM and the results for these two groups of countries are compared. The findings indicate that human capital, institutional factors, and distance to the technology frontier (DTF) are the most important reasons for the difference in productivity in East and West Asia. In most cases, human capital in East Asian countries has a positive effect on total factor productivity, while in West Asian countries it has no effect. The findings also show that institutional indicators in most cases in East Asian countries increase total factor productivity, while in West Asian countries do not have a significant effect on total factor productivity. A greater distance from the technology frontier (more relative backwardness) in West Asian countries than in East Asian countries leads to a further reduction in total factor productivity.

We define as South Asian countries those countries that start with Iran and end with Bangladesh in Asia. We then use export statistics in terms of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) for 14 industrial sectors to measure distances of export capabilities for these countries in relation to the “Western” developed and East Asian countries. Statistical methods such as multidimensional scaling and factor analysis are used for this purpose. In parallel, a set of economic variables are used to compare the trade performance with economic development.The results are revealing for several reasons. First, although India is far ahead from the rest of the South Asian countries, all of them are still very behind in relation to both Western and East Asian countries. Exact distances are measured in this respect (distance from the leaders of exports and economic development performance). Second, most countries in South Asia are specialized in clothing, textiles, and leather, whereas several of tem are specialized as well in resources. Third, it seems that the current economic boom in East Asian countries does not affect the economies of South Asia as much as expected.In the light of the these results, some policies are recommended in order to alleviate the relative setback of South Asian countries and in order for them to catch up with the other booming Asian countries.

Central Asia has many capacities to generate and use renewable energy. Addressing energy insecurity in the region may be the strongest incentive for Central Asian governments to develop renewable energy resources. Central Asia is rich in hydrocarbon reserves, but the uneven distribution of these resources across countries, burnout of facilities and inefficient energy management, threaten development of the whole region. However, moving towards alternative energy will also have many other advantages for the Central Asia region, including decreasing concerns about energy security in the region. Promoting regional cooperation is one of the definitive benefits of expanding renewable resources in Central Asian countries that the present paper seeks to address. The present literature tries to find an answer for the following questions: "How do implementing renewable energy projects by central Asian countries affect regional cooperation; and why?” The author argues that due to interdependence of the Central Asian countries in the field of energy, the renewable energy resources as their ​​common interest (and not as a parallel, divergent or conflicting interest) as well as the need for regional countries to have an integrated energy system, implementing renewable energy projects by the Central Asian countries can enhance intergovernmental cooperation in regional integration arena. Using descriptive-analytical method and the causal methodology the author tries to tell why the research findings provide an answer to the research question.

Generally, the major factors in producing noise especially in large cities are industrialactivities, constructional equipments and machines, motor vehicles, motorcycles, undergrounds andtramways, airplanes, ships and motorboats.Some Asian countries such as China, Turkey, and Japan have adopted legal measures tocontrol and eliminate the noise pollution Since, the Iranian legal system in the area of noise pollutionsuffers insufficiencies and problems, a comparative analysis of the laws and regulations of Iran and afew selected Asian countries can be helpful for finding the shortcomings as to the control of thepollution in Iran and Tehran. This paper is aimed at identifying the above-mentioned defects throughstudying the legal status of noise pollution in Iran as compared to a few other Asian countries.

Since foreign direct investment has entered into the world's economic literature, countries have sought to attract more of this type of investment by creating appropriate incentive infrastructures. The impact of foreign direct investment on domestic investment may be affected by the different economic conditions of the host country, including their financial development. Accordingly, in this paper, the interactive effect of financial development and direct foreign investment on domestic investment in the East and West Asian countries (including Iran) during the period of 1980-2017 was estimated by using panel data analysis. The results of the research show that the interactive effect of financial development and foreign direct investment on domestic investment in West Asian countries was negative and in the East Asian countries was positive. In other word, developed financial markets and building trust among foreign investors has led to increasing domestic investment in the East Asian countries. Therefore to enhance domestic investment, it is necessary to prepare suitable conditions for financial development and foreign investors entrance to the country.

The emergence of China's economic power, along with the decrease of America's share in global production and international trade, has led to a change in the geopolitical landscape of the world and in the economic balance in the international arena, which has finally brought the trade competition between China and America to its peak and it has emerged in the form of trade war. This matter caused Southeast Asian countries to become a field of economic conflict between China and America. The main question of this research is how the trade war between China and America has affected the economy of Southeast Asian countries?  In response to this hypothesis, it is investigated with an explanatory method that the trade war between China and America through trade tariffs and import restrictions leads to a change in imports-exports and trade deals with Southeast Asian countries, especially Vietnam and Taiwan. The purpose of this research is to explain China and America’s economic policy based on the strategy of neo-mercantilism in the form of the trade war and how this war has changed the economic balance in the whole world, especially in Southeast Asian countries.

Asian countries with their human rights action, namely the signing of the Bangkok Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of ASEAN strengthen its core point of differentiation debates that "Asian values"against hegemony of liberal democracy claims is the world-Shmvly. This paper seeks to answer the whats nature of asian values and why crreated and Asian discourse created and what are its components."Asian countries with their human rights action, namely the signing of the Bangkok Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of ASEAN strengthen its core point of differentiation debates that "Asian values"against hegemony of liberal democracy claims is the world-Shmvly. This paper seeks to answer the whats nature of asian values and why crreated and Asian discourse created and what are its components."Asian countries with their human rights action, namely the signing of the Bangkok Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of ASEAN strengthen its core point of differentiation debates that "Asian values"against hegemony of liberal democracy claims is the world-Shmvly. This paper seeks to answer the whats nature of asian values and why crreated and Asian discourse created and what are its components."

Objectives The study aimed at performing a comparative analysis of the aging population in European and Asian countries during 1950 and 2015.
Methods & Materials This study has been conducted through a secondary analysis, and the data for 90 European and Asian countries were derived from the UN Population division. The used statistical method was history of survival analysis. The statistical package of Stata was used to perform statistical analyses of non-parametric methods of estimation of Kaplan-Meier and Nelson – Ellen’s survival function, and Cox’s semi-parametric proportional hazard model.
Results The study estimates showed that total fertility rates and life expectancy in both Europe and Asia were convergent in nature. The probability of occurrence of aging has a negative relationship with total fertility rate and a positive relationship with life expectancy. Estimation of survival function and cumulative hazard function for the two study areas in 2015 indicated that probability of occurrence of aging was significantly different. Survival function of aging was close to zero for European countries. This means that most European countries have entered the aging process while the likely to survive an accident for Asian countries was more than 0.75.
Conclusion According to the results, during 1950 to 2015, the percentages of aging populations in all regions of the European continent was dramatically higher than that of the Asian countries. In recent decades, although there has been a rapid fall in fertility rate and increased life expectancy among the less developed Asian countries, the process of population aging has increased. This index in Asian countries is believed to outpace the European countries by 2050.

Positive thinking is the result of a mental conception of the capabilities one country can play for another. So that any action taken by country A can have beneficial results for B. Finding positive aspects in comparison with the negative effects is some of dimensions of positive thinking. In fact, changing the attitude from negativity toward positivity is a long-term process which is, of course is due to a reciprocal and interactive relationship. Therefore, positive thinking, while somewhat rooted in objective facts, comes from the thinking of the person at first and the elite ruling of foreign policy as a device of that country in the second phase. For example, while most of Gulf States have a pessimistic look about Iran's nuclear program and implicitly advocated unilateral action by the United States and Israel against Iran (Saudi Arabia is notable in this case), Central Asian countries have looked more positive and cautious about Iran's nuclear program and rejected any unilateral attack on the country with the aim of destroying its nuclear facilities, and called for a peaceful solution to this issue. For example, Uzbekistan was silent about Iran's nuclear issue, indicating no support from the parties to the conflict; Turkmenistan supports Iran for its borders with Iran and high-level economic relations with the country. Tajikistan had a more positive attitude toward Iran's nuclear program than all of Central Asian countries. Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan and its president strongly opposed any unilateral attack on Iran's nuclear facilities through the Kyrgyzstan manas base. (Although this site is not currently leased to Americans) and called for a peaceful solution to this issue. Kazakhstan also challenges the international community's stance on Iran's nuclear program. On the other hand, they want Iran to cooperate more in this regard with the international community, For example, in November of 2011, Nursultan Nazarbayev, in a media commentary, announced that current sanctions would suffice because the IAEA conclusions were ambiguous, and the IAEA inspectors should once more go to Iran's nuclear facilities for further investigation. He Asked the United States to enter directly with Iran to resolve the remaining issues. Given the above assumptions, the basic question is posed: What are the reasons for the Central Asian countries to look positively towards the Islamic Republic of Iran? Are economic, political-security-strategic considerations effective in creating such a view? In response to the above question, it can be argued that a set of political, economic, security and strategic considerations serves as a reason for the positive perception of Central Asian countries compared with the countries of the southern Gulf of Persian Gulf to the Islamic Republic of Iran. For example, while Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have good commercial and economic ties with Iran, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have political and strategic motives, worrying about the spread of political instability in the region and its spread within their borders and the activation of Islamist groups in their country. Kazakhstan, as an influential country in Central Asia, is concerned about the prevalence of instability and the possibility of Iran reacting to a military strike against them. The method used in this research is descriptive-analytic after event occurrence. In this regard, at first, the dependent variable, the positive look of Central Asian countries, was investigated in the form of an examination of the approach of the elites of these countries to Iran. For example,  statements by presidents of some of countries regions, including NourSultan Nazarbayev, have been advocating remarks, indicating their support for the peaceful nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Authors studied geo-economic, geo-strategic and geo-cultural indicators to clarify their independent variables. In other words, in order to prove the research hypothesis, using existing information and statistics and library, the authors tried to prove a meaningful relationship between two variables, namely, the positive thinking of Central Asian countries relative to Iran, due to geo-economic, geo-strategic, and geo-cultural considerations. Therefore, the reasons for the Central Asian countries to look positively towards Iran, especially in the nuclear issue derive from geo-politics, geo-cultural and geo-economic dimensions. For example, all Central Asian countries have a degree of economic relations with Iran and Iran could be considered a key factor in the future for the access of these countries to free water. For example, nearly 70% of cotton exports are currently exported to the outside world through the Islamic Republic as the second largest export commodity in Uzbekistan. In terms of security-strategy, Central Asian countries are also concerned about weakening Iran and the powering of countries such as Turkey, Israel and Pakistan, That is the reason why a country like Kazakhstan explicitly declares that the West's approach to Iran's nuclear program is not transparent and they want to clarify the true nature nuclear programs of Israel and Pakistan because they don’t regard Israel as having nuclear weapons, and put the Islamic Republic at the forefront. The third reason why Central Asian countries have a positive outlook for Iran is that they are worried about the spread of insecurity and instability resulting from the attack and rehabilitation of Iran's rigid response. Finally, the cultural and soft powers of Iran in the region and the influence of Iran among the peoples of the countries of the region will make the decision making system of Central Asian countries, even in countries like Uzbekistan, to look at the Islamic Republic of Iran as an influential country in the Central Asian region. Therefore, the positive attitude of Central Asian countries towards the Islamic Republic of Iran is due to their beliefs about the functioning of Iran in the regional sub-system. As a result, the main motivations of Central Asian countries to support Iran's nuclear program are rooted in various political, security, economic and geostrategic considerations which could increase Iran's regional weight among these countries. Whether this pattern can be repeated in relation to the Persian Gulf countries that have a negative view of Iran, needs to be explored separately.

The East turning policy of the Zionist regime, first proposed by Netanyahu as "Pivoting to Asia", refers to the increasing relations of this regime with Asian countries; a policy apparently modeled on Barack Obama’s “Pivot to Asia”. During his visit to Singapore in 2017, Benjamin Netanyahu, then prime minister of the Zionist regime officially announced the policy of turning to Asia and said that Israel is clearly pivoting towards it. Various factors can be pointed out as to why the relations between Israel and Asian countries have improved. Many believe that the economic rise of the Asia-Pacific region and the accentuating role of the countries of this region in acting in the international arena has caused Israel to turn to Asian countries. However, it seems that this pivot must have other reasons as well. The present article, using the descriptive-analytical method and library sources, seeks to determine the reasons leading to Israel’s pivot to Asia. Despite the fact that Israel is geographically located in Asia and a large part of its population consists of Jews with Asian roots; a look at the history of this regime's relations with Asian countries reveals that in the first decades after the formation of Israel, Tel Aviv was not very interested in communicating with Asian countries; a condition probably originating from the fact that most Asian countries were colonies or did not have much weight in the field of international politics in that time. However, the end of cold war turned the tide and because of the fact that Israel was seen a gate through which Asian countries could put themselves in the bosom of the winner of the cold war, that is the US, the relations between Tel Aviv and Asian countries grew further. But as it was said, it was not until 2017 that Netanyahu accounted Israel’s pivot to Asia. Generally speaking, this pivot can be attributed to four factors: A) Collapse of the Bipolar System after the End of the Cold War: During the Cold War, the relationship with Israel was considered a taboo for many countries that were defined in the Eastern Bloc, as well as members countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, because Israel was defined as the aggressor in the conflict with the Palestinians, as well as a member of the Western bloc. In addition, the world's dependence on the oil of Arab countries and the embargo of Israel's business partners by these countries was the reason for the refusal of further relations. However, after the end of the Cold War, a change in practice was seen. Israel was a close ally of the United States which was considered the winner of the Cold War, and many countries that were previously in other blocs looked to Israel as a vehicle for getting closer to Washington. B): Increasing Role of Asia-Pacific in Global Relations: The second reason that has been put forward for Israel’s pivot to Asia is the increasing weight of the Asia-Pacific in the global economic and security; a fact crystalized by examples such as the unprecedented speed and volume of China's economic growth, the surprising movement of the “4 Asian Tigers”, turning of Asia into the largest consumer and production market in the world and the high volume of foreign exchange reserves of Asian countries. C) Decline of Europe's Position in Israel's Relational Structure: For many years, Europe was considered Israel's main economic and security partner. However, the study of Israel's trade with the European Union shows a downward trend; in 2013, the European Union, the United States of America, and Asia accounted for 32, 28, and 21 percent of Israel's exports, respectively, but in 2015, Asia surpassed the United States with 25 percent and stood next to Europe with 28 percent. D) Growing Rift between Obama and Netanyahu: Another factor that caused the Netanyahu government to think of finding new partners other than its traditional partners was the intensification of the rifts and feuds between Netanyahu and Obama; leading to cooling of relations between these two which have always had “special relationship: with each other. This condition caused Netanyahu’s administration to think of ways to circumvent this isolation. Israel adopted several strategies such as: A) Strengthening Relations with Eastern European Countries: For years, Israel's foreign policy was focused on Western Europe; which can be considered a legacy of the Cold War or a reflection of the weaker economy of the East Europe countries. But the conditions described earlier made Israel pay more attention to these countries. The main communication between the Zionist regime and the governments of Eastern Europe has been conducted through the Visegrad Group. In February 2019, Israel announced that it would host the first-ever Visegrad meeting outside of Europe. The said meeting was canceled due to the dispute between Poland and Israel, but Netanyahu hosted the leaders of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia at his residence. B) Re-establishing ‘Periphery Doctrine”: David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, suggested that in order to escape from the isolation imposed by the Arab countries, it is necessary to strengthen relations with the neighbors of these countries, such as Iran and Turkey; a strategy called the ““Periphery Doctrine”” Regardless of the various analyzes that exist about the success or failure of this strategy, after the end of the Cold War and the increase of diplomatic relations between Israel and many countries of the world and even a number of governments that previously had a history of war with this regime, the peripheral doctrine lost its importance in Israel's foreign policy and was gradually forgotten. But after the 90s and especially the beginning of Netanyahu's first term as prime minister in 1996, we saw the revival of this strategy. This time, the Zionist regime began to strengthen its relations with the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as Greece and Cyprus, in order to contain its new rivals or enemies, such as Turkey and Iran. The process became more intense in the years after the start of Netanyahu's second term in 2009, and was called by some as "Periphery Doctrine 2" and especially C) Pivot to Asia: The official adoption of the "Pivot to Asia" policy dates back to Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Singapore on February 20, 2017. During this trip, Netanyahu stated in a press conference that: "We are clearly and purposefully pivoting towards Asia". As it was said before, the adoption of this strategy has various reasons, such as the increase in the economic power of Asian countries, Israel’s technological and economic power, Europeans criticism of the Zionist regime and disagreements between Obama and Netanyahu. It is worth mention that another factor that has increased Israel's relations with Asian countries is the use of Asian workers in Israel; about half of Israel's construction workers are currently nationals of Asian countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, Nepal and China. For example, China and the Zionist regime signed an agreement in 2020, according to which 20,000 Chinese workers were employed in the Israeli construction sector.