This paper examines the implications of Nepal’s exchange rate policy for its export performance over the period 1980–2010. We first document Nepal’s long-standing currency peg against the Indian rupee and that Nepal’s real exchange rate appreciated substantially from the late 1990s. We...

This paper examines the impact of trade and investment liberalization on the wage skill premium between skilled and unskilled workers in Vietnamese manufacturing. The result from an econometric analysis using a firm-level dataset reveals the important role of trade liberalization as an impetus...

Indonesia experienced growing shortfalls of food supplies during the 1950s and during the 1960s and 1970s it imported increasing amounts of rice, wheat and wheat flour. This paper investigates the role of food aid in this development. In the 1950s,Indonesia received some US PL480 food aid under...

In 1977 Sri Lanka was the first of the South Asian countries to decisively move away from the protectionist import-substitution trade policies that for many years had damaged their economic efficiency and hobbled their economic growth. Albeit with back-tracking episodes, Sri Lanka's liberalising...

This paper provides trade flow projections for major Asian developing economies (ADEs) for the next two decades against the backdrop of an in-depth analysis of policy shifts and trade patterns over the past 4 decades. Merchandise trade of ADEs has grown at a much faster rate in the global...

Global production sharing—the division of production processes into geographically separated stages—is a central feature of economic globalization. This study seeks to broaden our understanding of global production sharing, and to explore policy options for developing countries to...

This paper examines the impact of the Australia-Thailand free trade agreement (TAFTA) on bilateral trade between the two countries, paying attention to the implications of rules of origins (RoO) and the utilization of tariff preferences. It is found that trade has expanded faster following TAFTA...

Indonesia is a net importer of almost all of its staple foods. National selfsufficiency in food, especially the main staple, rice, is a core objective of economic policy. Poverty reduction is also a core policy objective. Since the 1970s, Indonesia has used agricultural input subsidies,...

Advancements in information and communications technologies (ICTs) have increased the possibilities for trade in modern services and many Asian emerging and developed economies are participating increasingly in these new trade activities. This paper examines the export performance of these...

This paper examines the emerging trends and patterns of merchandise trade in Southeast Asia and their implications for growth and structural changes in domestic manufacturing, with emphasis on the on-going process of global production sharing. The analysis reveals that participation in global...