This paper evaluates Sri Lanka's readiness to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), with a focus on services trade. Services exports have grown moderately since 2015, led by travel, transport, and business process outsourcing, while imports have contracted, resulting in a...

This paper assesses Bangladesh's readiness to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) from the perspective of services trade. In Bangladesh, services exports have grown rapidly but remain narrow in scope and overshadowed by rising imports, leading to persistent deficits. RCEP...

Over the last three decades, South Asian economies have shown a continued upsurge in services exports, contributing to their external sector stability and economic growth. In this context, we examine the role of human capital in boosting services exports and revisit the other determinants of...

Why do export sales increasingly concentrate among a few "superstars"? This paper is the first to argue that the expansion of the Internet matters for this phenomenon. Using firm-level customs transaction data from 11 developing countries, we show that the spread of the internet steepens the...

The study estimates partial and general equilibrium impacts of trade digitalization on trade flows using data from the UN Trade Digitalization Index (TDI) 2024 and a structural gravity model. This approach, unlike earlier gravity model studies on the topic, allows for the derivation of both...

This paper explores the potential opportunities and challenges digital trade poses for women traders globally and in Asia-Pacific. This paper highlights policy areas using a gendered approach to digital trade. Given the varied and interrelated issues, a public-private-societal effort is needed...

The digital connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region is primarily shaped by the availability of ICT infrastructure, the nature of regulatory policies, and the dynamics of competition among service providers. This paper explores the policies and regulations that affect the costs and accessibility...

Several commentaries are written about de-dollarization. We analyze the factors which are contributing to de-dollarization and provide an alternative assessment. On the economic front, the US economy's reduced fiscal and financial capacity can strain economic trust in the dollar. The...

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, which accounts for over 50 per cent of the world's population and over 35 per cent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. The region is growing at higher than the global growth rate and is expected to...

The e-commerce sector is rapidly growing globally with the Asia-Pacific region accounting for 58 per cent of global retail e-commerce in 2022, and India, Singapore, China, and Japan leading this growth. The discussion on e-commerce and trade at the global level began in 1998 with the...