This paper studies factors associated with firm participation in export markets, focusing primarily on firm size and access to credit, based on a survey sample comprising observations of 8,080 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (with fewer than 100 employees) and non-SME firms in developing...

This paper undertakes a comparative and firm-level analysis of the impact of regional trade agreements (RTAs) in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It finds that firm-heterogeneity matters in RTA use. Acquiring knowledge about RTAs, building technological capabilities, and membership of...

This paper examines the links between ownership, innovation and exporting in electronics firms in three late industrializing East Asian countries (China, Thailand and the Philippines) drawing on recent developments in applied international trade and innovation and learning. Technology-based...

Sri Lanka was the earliest South Asian economy to introduce economic reforms to attract export-oriented FDI. The rise of clothing production for export, apparently mainly driven by foreign firms, is regarded as a major outcome of the reforms. This paper seeks to examine a range of factors...

Mauritius is an outlier in Sub-Saharan Africa for its impressive manufactured export performance based on garments since the adoption of market-oriented policies in the early 1980s. Little, however, is known about the role played by internal technological factors on the exporting behaviour of...

As tariffs fall over time, attention inevitably focuses on non-tariff measures (NTMs). Governments are increasingly imposing mandatory technical regulations on products for reasons of security, health or the environment and have facilitated the introduction of non-mandatory (voluntary) standards...

The spread of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Southeast Asia has ignited a debate about their impact on enterprises including the business costs from the Asian ‘noodle bowl’ effect. This paper undertakes a comparative and firm-level analysis of the determinants of FTA use in Indonesia,...

This study examines the relationship between firm characteristics and borrowing from commercial banks by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and five Southeast Asian economies (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam). Analysis...

Growing internationalization of firms in Asia through participation in global value chains (GVCs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) has focused attention on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Yet there is scant literature on the characteristics of SMEs involved in GVCs and FTAs. Malaysia...

The global financial crisis exposed great shortcomings in the global economic architecture, generating extensive international debate about possible remedies for these deficiencies. The postwar global architecture was guided by major developed economies, centered around the IMF, the GATT, and...