This paper develops a modality of liberalization for APEC, based on a sectoral level, as an alternative to the politically sensitive Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). This model, originally developed by Wonnacott (1994), argues for the liberalization of sectors on an MFN basis, where...

We study the optimal combination of corporate tax rate and tax base in a model of a small open economy with heterogeneous firms. We show that it is optimal for the small country's government to effectively subsidize capital inputs by granting a tax allowance in excess of the true costs of...

The paper examines the policies pursued by the Philippines in response to the increasing economic integration and interdependence of nations and regions around the world, focusing in particular on the country's multi-track approach to trade and investment liberalization. The country's experience...

This paper provides an account of the resort in recent years by governments in the Asia Pacific region to discrimination against foreign commercial interests. As in previous systemic economic crises, policymakers altered the mix of discriminatory policies employed. This time around governments...

More recently, considerable attention has been given to financial regional integration and cooperation, which intensified in the wake of the East Asian financial crisis. Thus, a number of regional initiatives, such as development of regional bond market and credit rating agencies, among others,...

This is the season for regional-integration initiatives in Asia. There is talk of region-wide FTAs, and there are east-Asian initiatives on financial and monetary cooperation. But grand visions for Asian regional blocs are not achievable. Regional economic integration is most developed in east...

What if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is not a doomed initiative - and what if it will actually make inroads into modern trade problems? The Asia-Pacific region is now the world's centre of economic gravity holding an increasing share of world production and promising a rapid turn into the...

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement seems to have reached a crossroads: it could either be a building block toward achieving economic integration in Asia and the Pacific, or trigger the formation of two large trade blocs which will work independently of one another. When the Government...

The nature of South–South international economic relations has changed significantly in recent decades, especially since the early 1990s. In areas such as trade, investment, labor markets, technology, and policy coordination, regional cooperation between countries of the South and pro-market...

The EAC is on the verge of establishing a customs union. But this is accompanied by fears that the Customs Union would lead to trade imbalances among the Partner States, which would create serious problems for the proper functioning of the Customs Union itself. To mitigate these problems the...