The paper describes the current decision-making structure for trade policy formulation in the Philippines and compares it with the systems in selected countries. It cites difficulties in the current set-up, such as : 1) turf mentality among government agencies that tend to paralyze inter-agency...

This paper surveys studies of the importance of Central Asian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the economy and their experience during the Russian financial crisis. It also uses survey data from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Developments Business Environment and Enterprise...

This paper distills some policy lessons from the financial services integration programme in the European Union for East Asia. Focusing on the improved cross-border facilitation of financial flows rather than on general macroeconomic factors related to optimal currency area formation, the paper...

The paper analyzes how various preferential trading arrangements deal with agriculture liberalization and examines a few case studies highlighting the provisions on agriculture. It assesses the effect of preferential trade agreements on agriculture trade flows in the case of ASEAN. It finds that...

Non-tariff measures are everywhere vilified for preventing exports, especially of agriculture, from developing countries. Philippine exporters seem to be taking things in stride, however. The paper estimates the cost of certification regularly borne by a typical Philippine food exporter to be...

Globalization and pressure from increased competition have led to splintering of in-house services from formerly integrated manufacturing firms in developed economies and, at the same time, to an increase in outsourcing of these same services. These two trends have caused a stronger linkage in...

The paper examines the labour migration trends in ASEAN and in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), in particular, and analyses the ASEAN regional labour-related initiatives that seek to improve the protection of migrant workers

Two views dominate the academic discussion of the root cause of the Asian crisis: the 'panic-illiquidity' view and the 'moral hazard-structural' view. This paper traces the factors that contributed to the build-up of financial vulnerabilities across the affected economies and compares these two...

Some services directly produce outputs that are important for human development, such as basic human services. Many other services are important inputs into the production and distribution of goods that are necessary for human development purposes. A more efficient services sector should mean...