Trade and Industrial Development in East Asia

Trade as an engine of growth has been playing a catalyst role in East Asian development; through vigorous study on the performances in past decades, East Asian trade and industrialization experiences may offer some lessons for other developing countries. This book covers trade and industrial structures for ten countries and regions including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. The contributors address the comparative advantages and trade similarity indices of Asian economies from regional and global perspectives. They also analyze the impacts of regional trade agreements from both member and non-member countries' perspectives. After a vigorous examination of the sources of export growth by the methodology of the constant market share analysis, the book examines the trade-investment nexus, the development of fragmentation of manufacturing production and trade in parts and components as the dominant trade flows after the mid-1980s. The third part of the book studies the trade complementarity index among countries to further pursue the analysis of natural trading partner, and looks at the Krugman-Baldwin hub-spoke thesis by empirically identifying the 'degree of hub-ness' in three major market in China, Japan and the US. Various scenarios of economic integration in East Asia are assessed and an open regionalism is proposed for East Asian economic integration and sustainable development in the conclusion of the book. Students and researchers of international trade, economic development and Asian Studies will find the data and analyses in the volume invaluable in understanding the economic development of the Asia Pacific.