This paper develops an Index of Trade Costs for ASEAN Member Countries, 1990-2007 based on the gap between cif and fob values of ASEAN exports to Australia. The cif/fob gap is a commonly used aggregate measure of trade costs, and Australia is a useful benchmark for ASEAN countries because it is...

In this paper, we investigate the dynamic nature of trading using Japanese firm-level data. Specifically, we examine state dependence and cross effects in exporting and importing. Our findings are as follows. First, we found significant state dependence and cross effects in exporting and...

Addressing technical barriers to trade is a key priority of ASEAN as part of trade facilitation in achieving the Single Market and Production Base under the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 and building an effective and competitive Economic Community beyond 2015. Standards and conformance...

This paper examines how the Japanese firms’ export decision is affected by the availability of information on export markets, focusing on whether the availability of such information has a different impact on the export decision between large firms and small and medium-sized enterprises...

While the impact of globalization on income inequality has received a lot of attention, little is known about its effect on the gender wage gap (GWG). This study argues that there is a systematic differece in GWG between exporting firms and non-exporters. By the virtue of being exposed to higher...

In this paper, we empirically investigate the relationship between exchange rate volatility and international trade, focusing on East Asia. Our findings are summarized as follows: first, intra-East Asian trade is discouraged by exchange rate volatility more seriously than trade in other regions....

This paper examines how international production/distribution networks provide individual firms with exporting/importing responsiveness to exchange rate movements. With the micro-data of Japanese manufacturing firms from 1994 to 2004, we find that firms' exports tend to respond to exchange rate...

This paper sheds light on the stability of international production networks in East Asia from the perspective of the duration and survival of bilateral trade relationships at the product-line level. Using highly disaggregated data for intra-East Asian machinery trade, survival analysis is...

This paper provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the effects of one-sided tariff cuts on firms’ export product scope. The theoretical model explicitly incorporates cost of management in addition to the commonly used production cost. The analysis predicts that the home country’s...

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...