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14 results in ISEAS Current Economic Affairs

A Free Trade Area
  • Implications for ASEAN
  • Pearl Imada, Seiji Naya, Manuel Montes
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1991
  • Presently, ASEAN stands ready to make a major step towards economic integration. This book looks at the issues involved in moving ASEAN towards a free trade area. It examines some indicators of gains and costs of integration and presents two quantitative analyses of the potential effects of integration on growth and trade in the region. The first, a partial equilibrium analysis, provides a disaggregated view of changes in production and trade patterns that could occur with integration. The second, a macroeconometric analysis, is able to capture general equilibrium effects and identifies the effects of integration on overall economic growth. These two analyses represent the first systematic, quantitative studies of intra-ASEAN trade.

Development Policy in East Asia
  • Economic Growth and Poverty Alleviation
  • Romeo M. Bautista
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1992
  • The growth performance of East Asia's market economics over the two-and-half decades has been one of unparalleled success. In this regional comparative study of country experiences, the author demonstrates the considerable scope for complementarity between economic growth and poverty alleviation in the development process. Government policies are shown to have been a major determinant of the development path for the East Asian countries, including the outcomes in income growth and distribution. The study sheds light on the types of policies conducive to both economic growth and poverty reduction, and provides important lessons for the other developing countries.

AFTA
  • The Way Ahead
  • Edited by Pearl Imada, Seiji Naya
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1992
  • The formation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), agreed upon at the Fourth ASEAN Summit in January 1992, reflects both developments within ASEAN and the changing international economic and political environment. Rapid industrialization in all the ASEAN countries has given rise to greater intra-ASEAN trade. Such trade has also become more complementary than competitive. In the international sphere, the emergence of regional trading blocs such as the Single European Market (SEM) and the recently concluded North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have also had a major impact on ASEAN's perceptions of a global trading system. Fears of trade and investment diversion, coupled with increasing competition for foreign direct investments, have forced ASEAN to forge closer economic ties amongst its members. This timely volume focuses on the issues concerning the practical aspects of implementation of AFTA, and the ways and means of bringing AFTA to fruition within the 15 year frame. In addition, broader global and regional issues are analysed to provide a more comprehensive discussion of the prospects and problems of AFTA.

Asian Market Economies
  • Challenges of A Changing International Environment
  • Ross Garnaut
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1994
  • Asia-Pacific economic development is at a decisive point. The particular system of open trading is breaking down, and no longer has clear cut American support. East Asia can now provide a majority of the market's growth required for its own export expansion, but cannot carry the whole load alone. APEC is the appropriate forum for maintaining the international framework that is necessary for East Asian dynamism to continue. This book looks at the changing international environmental and its challenges for the Asian market economies.

Indonesia's Financial Liberalization
  • An Empirical Analysis of 1981–88 Panel Data
  • Miranda S. Goeltom
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1995
  • Using 1981–99 panel data on Indonesian manufacturing establishments and a survey of 2000 top business in Indonesia, Indonesia's Financial Liberalization analyses the consequences of financial liberalization on investment and allocation of credit, noting differential effects depending on size of firms, organizational form, and other categorizations.Using rigorous econometric tools, the conclusion derived is that although financial liberalization has increased borrowing costs, particularly for smaller firms, it has widened access to finance. The move from administrative-based to market-based allocation of credit has increased credit flow to firms that are more efficient, and these firms consequently have a higher concentration of investment.

Economic Impact of the Withdrawal of the GSP on Singapore
  • Toh Mun Heng, Linda Low
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1991
  • This study is part of an ESCAP/UNCTAD/UNDP regional project. The objectives for the Singapore case-study include identifying the products affected by the GSP withdrawal and assessing how Singapore can regain its competitiveness, which may involve the restructuring of such industries and, if need be, also relocation. First, the economic impact of the pre-graduation country scenario is analysed in terms of composition and structure of GSP exports, GSP export growth, and market shares. This covers overall GSP performance as well as GSP exports to the United States. This is followed by an analysis of the post-graduation country scenario, that is, the economic impact after the withdrawal of the U.S. GSP in 1989. The policy implications and options at both the government and business sector levels are assessed and the conclusions of the study, which may be useful to other target countries, are also provided.

Adjusting Towards AFTA
  • The Dynamics of Trade in ASEAN
  • Jayant Menon
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1996
  • The decision to establish the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) was initially met with widespread enthusiasm. Some of this enthusiasm has since dissipated as all countries except Singapore have voiced concerns regarding the ability of sensitive industries to compete in the new protection-free environment. Underlying these concerns is the view that the evolving pattern of trade will be more complementary, or that inter-industry of net trade will dominate intra-industry trade. This study employs a new methodology to analyse the dynamics of trade in the ASEAN countries as they approach the deadline of AFTA, with a view to identify likely adjustment costs associated with liberalizing their trade.

East Timor
  • Development Challenges for the World's Newest Nation
  • Edited by Hal Hill, Joao M. Saldanha
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    30 August 2001
  • The challenges facing an independent East Timor are particularly acute. It is not only one of the poorest nations on earth but the terrible events of 1999 have also destroyed much of the country's buildings and infrastructure, as well as the nation's bureaucratic and commercial capacity. The decisions and the policy framework adopted in the early years by the leaders of this new nation will be critical.This book is an original work written by experts and well-known specialists in the field. It assembles all the latest information about the economy, assesses future policy options, and draws on lessons of international experience for this new nation. It is perhaps the only book about East Timor with this coverage and will be invaluable to those who are interested in developments in the region.

Curbing the Global Economic Downturn
  • Southeast Asian Macroeconomic Policy
  • Edited by Aekapol Chongvilaivan
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    16 July 2010
  • Southeast Asia witnessed a wide array of policy actions at the regional and international levels to unravel the ripple effects of the global economic downturn and to set a stage for a long-term recovery. Yet the quest for regional and global solutions has been hampered critically by the complication of individual economies and the diverse levels of economic development. The objective of this book is to examine in-depth region-specific research on how macroeconomic tools are at work in the Southeast Asian economies.

Indonesia's Economy since Independence
  • Kian Wie Thee
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    09 May 2012
  • This book contains a collection of papers on various aspects of Indonesia's economic and its industrial development. It discusses the early independence period in the 1950s; the Soeharto era (1966-1998); and the ensuing two economic crises, namely the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/98 and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

Myanmar's External Trade
  • An Overview in the Southeast Asian Context
  • Mya Than
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1992
  • The grim state of the Myanmar economy in the second half of the 1980s forced the previous government of the Burma Socialist Programme Party to liberalize its external and internal trade. Since the military coup following political chaos in the later part of 1988, Japan, the European Community and the United States have suspended new economic aid to Myanmar. This has led to the present military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), to work towards closer cooperation in diplomatic and trade relations with other Southeast Asian countries and to further liberalize its trade sector. This study explores and analyzes Myanmar's external trade and its trade relations with Southeast Asian nations, many of which are members of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN), and raises issues and prospects of economic cooperation with neighbouring countries in the region, including the option for active participation in ASEAN.

Foreign Direct Investment in Southeast Asia
  • Differential Impacts
  • Maxwell J. Fry
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1993
  • By analysing foreign direct investment (FDI) in a macroeconomic framework, this study throws new light on various channels through which FDI influences saving, investment, growth, and the balance of payments on current account. The finding that FDI has differential impacts in a sample of five Southeast Asian and eleven other developing countries leads to several policy conclusions. First, FDI is attracted for privatization or debt-equity swap programmes, it may provide additional or alternative balance-of-payments support, but will not accelerate capital formation or economic growth. Second, in the presence of financial and trade distortions, FDI can remove from the host country more that it contributes. In other words, it can be immiserizing. Third, the most efficacious way of encouraging FDI is to implement policies that generally improve the investment climate. Where domestically financed investment is booming, FDI will seek to participate. Finally, maximum benefit from FDI can be achieved in open economies that are free of domestic distortions such as financial repression and trade controls.

High Performance Financial Systems
  • Blueprint for Development
  • Ingo Ingo
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1993
  • This study outlines the framework of high-performance financial systems and the parameters for financial firms operating in them. It begins with an intuitive structural model of financial intermediation, and then considers issues facing players in, and users of the financial system, with emphasis on strategic positioning alternatives facing banks and other types of financial institutions, and the principal determinants of their competitive performance.

AFTA in the Changing International Economy
  • Edited by Joseph Tan
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 1996
  • This timely volume reviews the rapidly changing international economic environment and raises a range of issues and concerns pertaining to recent developments and the future of AFTA, ASEAN Free Trade Area. Part one is devoted to thematic analyses and perspectives dealing with trade; enlarging the ASEAN regional grouping; and relations with the World Trade Organization (WTO). Part two analyses AFTA in a wider comparative perspectives, examining relationships with the major trading partners of ASEAN, namely the United States (and more broadly NAFTA); Japan; and the European Union.