The 41st ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) held in Bangkok in 2009, as conveyed by the AEM 2011 Chair, H.E. Mari Elka Pangestu’s 15 April 2011 letter to the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) together with the Terms of Reference, requested ERIA to assist ASEAN in...

This paper provides an empirical analysis of potential constraints to SMEs upgrading their capability to innovate, and assesses the effectiveness of government support in overcoming these constraints. The justification for government support is that market failures can hinder SMEs’ access to...

This paper sheds light on the issue of SME financing in selected Asian economies using a unique sample survey. It elaborates on (i) the key sources of external finance for SMEs (ii) the extent to which, if at all, the SME sector as identified by firm size, country and in aggregate for a sample...

The World Trade Organization (WTO) will stage its ninth Ministerial Conference (MC9) in Bali, Indonesia, on 3-6 December 2013. The meeting comes at a critical juncture for the multilateral trade body, long mired in the Doha Round stalemate. Beyond offering a critical first test at...

The structure of this report is to examines the impact of globalization on labor market outcomes. Globalization in this study is broadly defined to include trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization, trade (exports and imports), international capital flows, outsourcing and traded...

ASEAN has established mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) on eight professional services. This paper assesses the progress of these arrangements’ paying special attention to the (i) regional and national implementation, (ii) national regulatory changes, and (iii) utilization of these...

ASEAN Economic Ministers signed the Agreement on the Movement of Natural Persons (MNP) in 2012. This is a new instrument potentially facilitating the free flow of goods, services, investment, and skilled labour, thus contributing to the establishment of an ASEAN single market and production...

The East Asian countries are seriously discussing the consolidation of ASEAN+1 FTAs to develop so-called ASEAN++ FTA or RCEP. The detailed analysis of services chapters in the existing ASEAN+1 FTAs gives insights to services trade liberalization in this new trade agreement. In order for ASEAN...

In November 2012, the leaders of the ASEAN+6 countries agreed to launch a new FTA negotiation called the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership" (RCEP). In this paper, we conduct stocktaking studies of ASEAN's own FTA and five existing FTAs with 6 dialogue partner countries, to identify...