The paper discusses the ASEAN + 3 integration in the context of the literature on hub-and-spoke regionalism. It argues that, provided proper rules of origin are incorporated, the different bilateral arrangements between ASEAN countries and each of the three East Asian economies are building...

Nationalstaaten verändern ihre Größe - dies lehrt die Geschichte. Gleichwohl wird die Größe eines Landes in der Ökonomik meist als exogen angenommen und nicht erklärt. Dies überrascht, weil die Staatsgröße in gewissem Umfang als Ergebnis rationaler Entscheidungen und als genuin...

In this paper, I will discuss this question with special emphasis on the European experience. The European Union (EU) qualifies for an interesting case study because of two reasons. First, it has been founded more than 40 years ago in 1957. Second, its ongoing process of deep Integration is...

Most FDI takes place between the developed countries, which suggests that the market-seeking motive is important for understanding FDI. However, given the stylized fact that trade barriers (e.g. transportation costs and financial barriers) have declined over the past 20 years, models that aim to...

The East Asian region is a major global economic player, given its economic size and potential. As such, Regional Economic Integration in East Asia could be considered as an important building bloc toward integration of the Asia-Pacific region. East Asia has made significant progress in creating...

Trade and financial policies in ASEAN-member countries have contributed to the goal of economic integration. One important feature of this process is the need to narrow the development gap in the region in order to make economic integration more effective and meaningful. This paper examines the...

This paper examines the prospect of realizing regional economic integration via the mechanism of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). The FTAAP initiative represents a politically ambitious, high potential benefit option for achieving Asian regional integration. Among its desirable...

Regional economic integration through logistics, information network and connectivity improvement can increase the 'virtual size' of an economy as trade with neighboring countries increases. This leads to substantial benefits from scale, network, coordination and agglomeration economies. As is...