This paper re-examines the relation between regional integration and trade by using the framework suggested by Yeats [1998] to analyze the effects of European integration. We identify the industries that experienced the largest increases in regional trade orientation during three phases of...

Northeast Asia has had trouble developing regional interaction, cooperation and market synergies; this paper summarizes key impediments and proposes various countermeasures. Suggestions include improvements in administrative transparency and property law, building on EU and ASEAN organizing...

Japanese firms, with their strong technology base and high domestic factor costs, have the potential of teaming with India, with its more basic infrastructure and eight times the population. Japan's poorly-performing excess capital could fuel India's strongly-developing middle class and robust...

At the moment, very substantial reforms in the field of security are being undertaken in Japan. “The New National Defence Program Guidelines for 2005 and After”, as well as the “Midterm Defence Program Fiscal Year 2005-2009” both talk about a thorough restructuring of the Self Defence...

This paper aims to assess the implications of the Asian economic crisis of 1997/98 and Singapore’s current initiatives to forge extra-ASEAN free trade agreements for the future of ASEAN economic integration. Have the recent crisis and the resulting economic difficulties undermined ASEAN’s...

This paper reviews the reasons why Japan has failed to resolve the economic and financial distress that started in 1990 with the collapse of asset prices despite many efforts to stimulate the economy and redesign the financial system. Why has recovery not yet occurred, and is Japan in a second...

Despite a number of changes in the leaderships of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) and in the policy approaches adopted by the country to restructure the banking sector, the progress has been less than impressive. This study shows that that the selection of policy measures adopted...