There has been a burst of interest in regional trading arrangements in the Asia Pacific region. Business pressures, frustration with the multilateral process, renewed interests in regional autonomy and domino effects have contributed to the interest in a preferential route. But the use of these...

Given former Prime Minister Koizumi s reformist zeal, agriculture might have been expected to be high on his list of targets for so-called structural reform . However, an investigation of the record of his administration on agricultural policy reveals only modest achievements in terms of policy...

The paper examines the development of the policy debate over reform of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), in order to examine how the process of regulatory reform is shaped in Japan. The study argues that, while the NTT reform debate mainly took place between NTT management...

Even a year or two ago, observers could have been relatively sanguine about the boom of interest in free trade agreements (FTAs). Progress was much slower than people originally expected, and negotiations seemed to drag on without agreement being reached. That situation has now changed. The...

China’s concern over its food security has increased in recent years as it opens up its domestic food market to the rest of the world. Chinese policymakers often regard food embargoes by the West as a major potential threat to food security. This paper examines the likelihood and consequences...

Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) into China is analysed using an FDI model that accounts for different modes of FDI as well as third country effects and adds to existing literature by incorporating a new measurement of political distance. Political closeness between countries is shown to...

Market participants and policymakers have a growing interest in the development of East Asian financial markets, and to the extent to which these markets are open and influenced by world markets. This paper examines the information contained in interest parity conditions about the international...

This paper uses the global trade analysis project (GTAP) model to simulate the effect of APEC trade liberalisation on Sino-Australian bilateral trade. By comparing the development of Sino-Australian bilateral trade in the short run and the long run, the analysis depicts a whole set of bilateral...

It is now widely agreed that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is in trouble, struggling to deliver the national rewards available from liberalising through multilateral negotiations. Prime Minister Howard and President Bush have committed to help restore the ability of the WTO system to...