In this paper we examine the changing nature of Japan's commercial policy over the last 25 years while reviewing Japan's changing structure of trade, FDI and economy that underlay policy changes. We argue that until the late 1990s Japan adopted a two-track approach of relying on multilateral...

The developing economies of Asia are confronted by serious environmental problems that threaten to undermine future growth, food security, and regional stability. This study considers four major environmental challenges that policymakers across developing Asia will need to address towards 2030:...

This study is the first attempt to investigate the patterns of imports and exports between the Russian Federation and East Asian economies, namely, the People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Macau, China; Japan; the Republic of Korea; and Mongolia. To this end, a panel-gravity trade model with...

In order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Asian countries are trying to realize the potential of energy innovation. However, several structural issues might deter the expected impact of energy innovation on GHG emissions. Given the...

Thailand - an outward-oriented regional production hub - is one of East Asia's most active users of free trade agreements (FTAs) as an instrument of commercial policy. By December 2009, Thailand had 11 concluded FTAs, and more were either under negotiation or proposed. Thai trade negotiators...

Sweden became a member of the European Union (EU) in 1995. Since then, she has been integrated into the EU's internal market under the Single Market Programme (SMP). Before Sweden's accession to the EU, she was a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) signed with the EU in 1972....

It is an empirical fact that it is very difficult to balance economic growth, poverty reduction, and environment protection, particularly for developing and transitional economies. While the economic environment of a country is influenced by conditions within the country, it is also influenced...

This paper examines the export experience of East Asian economies in the aftermaths of the crisis against the backdrop of a systematic analysis of precrisis trade patterns. The analysis is motivated by the "decoupling" thesis, which was a popular theme in Asian policy circles in the lead-up to...

This paper examines how an appreciation of the currency of the People's Republic of China (PRC) - renminbi - affects the country's exports in the context of production fragmentation, using a panel data set of the PRC's trade for 1992/93-2008/09. It constructs two exchange rates for renminbi: one...

This paper studies how East Asia's trade composition and orientation have changed over the past decade and analyzes the implications for the region and beyond. Over the last 2 decades we have witnessed the emergence of regional and global supply chains, in which production is divided into...