This paper examines the extent and pattern of global production sharing, focusing on East Asia, and probes its implications for the analysis of the determinants of trade flows. Reflecting rapid global spread of production sharing, trade in parts and components has increased at a much faster rate...

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...

This paper examines the implications of global production sharing for regional and global trade patterns in East Asia using a new data set culled from the UN trade database. It is found that, while ‘network trade’ has generally grown faster than total world trade in manufacturing, the degree...

This paper examines post-crisis export performance in Thailand against the backdrop of pre-crisis experience and ongoing changes in patterns of international production. Following a stage-setting survey of trends and patterns of export performance over the past four decades, it focuses on two...

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...

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 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...

This paper documents and analyzes emerging trade patterns in Asia, with special reference to the implications of global production sharing with a view to informing the policy debate on forming the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The analysis reveals that the degree of...

This paper surveys recent development in Sri Lankan trade policy, with an emphasis on emerging protectionist tendencies, using Sri Lanka’s Trade Policy Review (2010) by the World Trade Organization as a reference point. The Sri Lankan experience for over the three decades following the...

The drastic reductions in bound tariffs agreed by WTO members over the past half century have been accompanied by a substantial rise in non-tariff barriers to trade. Many commentators have drawn a causal link between these two phenomena, but there have been few attempts to empirically test this...