This chapter presents details on regional economic integration. It reviews and evaluates some of the voluminous literature, theoretical and applied, on the economic effects of regional integration agreements (RIAs). These effects are organized into three types: allocation effects, accumulation...

Motivated by the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Asia over the last decade, this paper studies the challenges faced by the Asian “noodle bowl” — overlapping, multiple trade rules, regulations, and standards in Asia — in the process of regional and global trade...

An analysis of the feasibilities of East Asian economic integration, providing diverse positions on East Asian economic integration by ASEAN countries as well as the north-eastern countries of China, Japan, and Korea.

The paper argues that East Asian regionalism is fragile because (i) each nation's industrial competitiveness depends on the smooth functioning of "Factory Asia" - in particular for intraregional trade; (ii) the unilateral tariff-cutting that created Factory Asia is not subject to WTO discipline...