You are on page 1of 6

ecaf_846.

fm Page 57 Thursday, August 28, 2008 4:01 PM

Other articles RAPID GROWTH IN CHINA


Blackwell Publishing Ltd

AND THE ASIAN ECONOMIES:


SOME STYLISED FREE-MARKET
POLICY INFERENCES
Dilip K. Das

The focus of this article is on the rapid growth of the Chinese economy and its
ongoing interaction with the rest of Asia. It concludes that rapid growth in both Asia
and China has resulted from free-market-oriented neoclassical economic policies and
principles. Owing to its economys size, its openness and the briskness of its GDP
growth, China has influenced economies across the globe as well as the more
proximate regional economy.

Introduction growing almost three times as rapidly as the


global economy, the neighbouring economies
The rapid economic growth of the Peoples cannot possibly expect to remain impervious.
Republic of China (hereinafter China) has The question of whether Chinas rapid growth
been having major ramications for both should be seen as a menace to the regional
national and regional economies in Asia. The economies or an opportunity has been
principal objective of this article is to examine frequently posed in national and regional fora.
this ongoing interaction between the Chinese Whether individual regional economies will be
and Asian economies and explore whether this out-competed, or whether all boats will rise
rapid growth beneted from free-market- due to the tidal wave created by Chinas rapid
oriented neoclassical economic policies and economic expansion, is a wholly legitimate
principles. The past four decades saw the concern of public policy-makers. As will be
adoption of strategies such as external discussed later on, the ongoing liberalisation
orientation, focusing on comparative of the nancial and exporting sectors in China
advantage, market liberalisation, commitment has been manifestly inuencing the Asian
to technological advancement, and honing the economies, many of which are rapidly
general competitiveness of the economy by, growing, high-performing economies in their
rstly, the dynamic economies of East and own right. Before Chinas current trajectory,
South-East Asia and then China. This country countries such as Singapore and South Korea
group has made a niche in the global were considered to have miracle economies
economy. Today it stands at the cusp of a new and earned the sobriquet Asian tigers or
economic era. The 2008 Olympics are likely to dragons. Although the region was marred by
symbolise the dawn of the Asian century, led the Asian crisis a decade ago, this was an
by China; future historians might come to aberration in an otherwise stable and
regard 2008 as the year the Asian century truly prosperous era.
began (Economist, 2007). As with Tokyo in Chinas re-emergence into the global
1964 and Seoul in 1988, the Olympics will economy is three decades old. However, its
symbolise the unleashing of the economic process of growth is not so advanced that
energy of a country which until recently was it could be regarded as mature and
mired in poverty, backwardness and social industrialised yet. However, in the process of
upheaval. maturing, China has progressively beneted
Owing to its economys size, its openness from stylised free-market strategies, which it
and the rapidity of its economic growth, largely learned from the other dynamic Asian
China is sure to lastingly inuence the growth economies. The other Asian high-performing
trajectories of the neighbouring Asian (AHP)1 economies that preceded China are
economies, as well as that of the regional known to have utilised free-market
economy. When a signicant-size economy is neoclassical economic principles with

2008 The Author. Journal compilation Institute of Economic Affairs 2008. Published by Blackwell Publishing, Oxford
ecaf_846.fm Page 58 Thursday, August 28, 2008 4:01 PM

58 rapid grow th in china and the asian economies

enormous alacrity and success (Das, 1996). Little wonder that not nd that the ying geese paradigm offers useful insights on
this sub-group of Asian economies has emerged as the newest the relationship between the Asian economies. Ozawa (2003)
sub-group of rapidly growing economies. has criticised the paradigm for empirical oversight and
China not only learned free-market neoclassical economic ideological aws. Critics have found discrepancies between the
principles from its regional neighbours, but also became an model and empirical evidence relating to the effects of
inspiring example of autonomous liberalisation. It emerged globalisation, the product cycle and foreign direct investment,
as the greatest liberaliser of the domestic economy the world as well as technological and structural changes. According to
has ever seen. China and the other AHP economies took the this view, there are no large differences in the stage of
initiative by pursuing free trade between themselves externally development of different Asian economies, nor in factor
to the WTO. China has been absorbing increasing amounts of endowments, technological capabilities or production costs.
primary products, parts, components and sub-assemblies, as Consequently, they produce products that are close substitutes,
well as capital goods and investment, from its regional partner competition among them is keen, and they should logically be
economies. An entirely new pattern of regional trade and expected to be rivals for market shares in third countries.
investment has emerged in this short time span. Chinas trade If this dissenting hypothesis is correct, Chinas emergence
and investment has affected the other regional economies both is detrimental to neighbouring economies; the harmony of the
directly and indirectly. Direct effects arose from Chinas ying geese formation led by Japan and followed by the newly
bilateral trade and investment relationships with the other industrialised Asian economies (NIAEs),3 the ASEAN-4,4 and
individual regional economies. Indirect effects arose from the China (in that order) has been interrupted by the emergence of
way in which Chinas trade and investment changed the China as a large, highly trade-oriented, intensely competitive
economic conditions faced by the other economies. That China economy. If recent growth in various knowledge and
has been causing a major economic ux in the region has been technology indicators is taken into account, the
obvious. competitiveness of the Chinese economy has been increasing
Although some Asian economies and some sectors will face and is likely to continue to do so in the near future. In a short
adverse effects short or long term from Chinas rapid space of three decades China has become exceedingly
growth, the apocalyptic predictions are grossly overdone. For competitive, not only in labour-intensive products, but also in
the most part, the impact of Chinas rapid growth can be technology- and skill-intensive manufactured products. China,
mutually benecial and may nally rm up as a symbiotic a high saving and investing economy, has also emerged as the
relationship between China and its neighbouring Asian largest recipient of external capital in the region, and it still has
economies. However, this cannot happen without the adoption a large pool of low-wage industrial labour. Consequently,
of policy exibility and well-timed judicious measures by complementarity among the Asian economies will be
individual national governments. supplanted by intense competition with China.
There is a third possibility, which emerges out of the two
noted above; both the above scenarios may pan out for
China and the Asian economies
different Asian economies and for different industrial sectors.
The Asian economies have a good deal of diversity among Some economies may not be disturbed and the benign ying
them. They are at differing stages of development, both in geese paradigm might hold, while others may come under
sub-groups and individually, with both emerging market2 competitive pressure from China and suffer dislocation of some
and developed economies. Their resource endowments vary of their industrial sectors. Furthermore, Chinas competitive
appreciably. It is because of this range of variation among them pressure may be sector-specic and may be felt intensely in, for
that even after half a century, Kaname Akamatsus (1961) example, new industrial sectors where the Asian economies are
often-quoted ying geese paradigm still applies to the Asian forced to seek comparative advantage, while it may not be
economies. In this benign paradigm, complementarities severe in other sectors. However, early generalisations in this
among the Asian economies are essentially derived from their vein are fraught with the danger of reaching incorrect
differing levels of economic development, creating a division of conclusions.
labour expected not to obstruct but support each others If the dissenting view is correct, Chinas growing
growth. manufacturing clout is sure to undermine the regions
Accordingly, Chinas trade expansion is an opportunity for domestic manufacturing industries. Some of the Asian
the other AHP economies. As China grows and integrates with economies, particularly ASEAN-4, the South Asian and the
neighbouring economies, it will continue to inuence them other low-income economies, will be adversely affected because
systematically. The signicance of Chinas trade inuence of their inability to compete with the well-oiled and ourishing
increased rstly through Chinas proactive participation in exporting mechanism that China has created. They will come
regional production networks and then through its accession to under pressure to nd new areas of comparative advantage.
the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. According to China will also deect much-needed foreign investment from
this viewpoint, Asian economies would mutually prop each this sub-group of economies. The ultimate impact would be
other up and reinforce the growth of the region. A ourishing slackened growth, rendering regional economic convergence
and globally integrated China is good for the region. With difcult.
Japan, it can become the second regional locomotive for Empirical research has shown that China and India
growth. competed only in 25% of their products that are exported to
There is a strongly dissenting view, which sees Asian third-country markets (Cerra et al., 2005). In some product
economies largely as competing economies. Some analysts do categories they can become each others export markets.

2008 The Author. Journal compilation Institute of Economic Affairs 2008. Published by Blackwell Publishing, Oxford
ecaf_846.fm Page 59 Thursday, August 28, 2008 4:01 PM

iea e c o n o m i c a f fa i r s s e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 8 59

Chinas rapid multilateral trade growth and expansion into factor behind increasing intra-regional trade among the AHP
third-country markets is likely to affect the trade growth of economies.
many Asian economies, including India. General equilibrium
modelling using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP)
Regional production networks
database revealed that India will likely experience a fall in
economic welfare, along with a fall in GDP of about $359 Production networks date back to the 1960s, when they were
million over the shock period. Indias loss of welfare will largely rst set up in the electronics and apparel industries in the
emanate from deterioration in its terms of trade in several of NIAEs. Since then, multinational production networks have
its export lines (Cerra et al., 2005; Das, 2006). evolved and spread into numerous industries, the principal
ones being sports footwear, automobiles, aircraft, televisions,
sewing machines, ofce equipment, power and machine tools,
Factors behind regional economic trends
digital cameras, watches, printing equipment, publishing, and
so on. The location of different parts of the production process
Upgrading the technology base
is settled through comparative advantage, that is, the
I have stated above that the competitiveness of the Chinese lowest-cost country manufactures each part or component.5
economy is increasing. In keeping with neoclassical growth
principles, the AHP economies have paid a great deal of
Vertical specialisation
attention to technological progress. They have demonstrated
an impressive ability to upgrade their technology to produce Vertical specialisation6 and Chinas rapidly growing trade have
increasingly complex manufactured products, and have been been recognised as important economic phenomena with an
further investing in advanced skills. Over the preceding two enormous regional economic impact. Chinas trade has become
decades, in the process of becoming the worlds leading more vertically specialised in recent years. An early estimate by
manufacturer of mass-produced industrial products, China Rumbaug and Blancher (2004) noted that Chinas exports have
successfully absorbed a broad range of industrial technologies, a high share of imported items from the neighbouring Asian
and indeed proved to be superior to other emerging market economies. The proportion of Chinese imports for processing
economies in doing so. There were several factors that trade increased from 35% in the early 1990s to 50% in 1997. As
contributed to this trend in the past, including a low-wage, but much as 40% of Chinas total exports contained imports from
reasonably skilled, exible labour force, broad-based education the other AHP economies during this period. A more recent
reforms, the entry of the private sector into the provision of estimate, based on 2005 statistics, puts the proportion of
tertiary education, and additional emphasis on science and Chinas imports bound for processing trade at 42%, and
technology education as the pillars of future industrial suggests that 55% of Chinas exports result from vertical
development. The average age of plant and equipment was specialisation (Dean et al., 2007). A product-specic indication
lowered to seven years due to large and growing investment. of increasing levels of vertical specialisation is given by the
In the USA, the average age of plant and equipment is 17 years rapid increase in imports of integrated circuits and
(BCG, 2006). micro-assemblies, which are key components in the production
of a range of electronic products. Kwan (2002) concluded that
Asian economies can potentially gain more by further
Expansion of intra-regional trade and vertical
integrating production lines and sharing the benets of vertical
specialisation
specialisation in trade.
All the AHP economies, at various points in time, have adopted Chinas export upgrade from low-technology,
export-led growth strategies by creating a supportive labour-intensive exports to high-technology exports was swift.
macroeconomic environment and providing microeconomic China has advanced up the technology ladder so rapidly that
incentives. As these economies grew, their intra-regional trade it is regarded as an outlier in certain economic comparisons;
developed at a rapid rate and more than doubled over the last for example, Chinas export composition is normally found in
three decades. While in the late 1970s only 20% of their total countries with an income-per-capita level three times higher
exports were to each other, the present proportion of than Chinas.
intra-regional trade is almost half of their total trade. In 2002,
China accounted for 32% of the regions total export growth
Chinas position on regional integration
(Zebregs, 2004). The average share of total trade growth due to
and recent initiatives
intra-regional trade in the AHP economies soared from 42.5%
during 198690 to 75% in 19962000. This is much higher than Sensitive to the allegation of disrupting and dislocating the
in other regions. performance of its neighbours, China has endeavoured to
This intra-trade expansion was assisted by falling trade manage its economic relations by backing multilateral trade
costs due to declining trade barriers (both tariffs and non- expansion regionally, proactively backing regional trade
tariffs), falling transport and freight charges, advances in liberalisation and free-trade agreements (FTAs). This process
information and communications technology, and the was initiated by Chinese overtures to the ASEAN economies
development of regional production networks. Economic with a proposal for a free-trade agreement in 2000. The
linkages among the AHP economies continuously ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) has existed since 1992,
strengthened. The robust outward-oriented growth with 90% of intra-ASEAN trade taking place at low tariff rates
performance of the Chinese economy was an important causal of 05% (Pangestu and Gooptu, 2004).

2008 The Author. Journal compilation Institute of Economic Affairs 2008. Published by Blackwell Publishing, Oxford
ecaf_846.fm Page 60 Thursday, August 28, 2008 4:01 PM

60 rapid grow th in china and the asian economies

Low-key ofcial efforts to strengthen economic ties near future is well within the realms of possibility. A joint
between ASEAN countries and China in order to boost mutual feasibility study was launched by the two governments in 2003.
trade and investment began in 1995. An ASEANChina FTA The mandate of the study group was to identify areas of mutual
was signed in November 2001, aiming at establishing a free- interest and draw up a programme for the further development
trade area by 2010.7 An early harvest package was offered by of trade and economic co-operation. Since March 2006, there
China in 2003, which slashed tariffs on farm imports from the have been several rounds of negotiations. The two countries
ASEAN economies. This process has continued, and by mid- completed joint feasibility research on a bilateral free-trade
2005 China had implemented deep tariff cuts on about 7,000 agreement in October 2007, but (at the time of writing) no
products. The principal objective of this comprehensive decision on whether to launch negotiations has yet been taken.
ASEANChina FTA was to facilitate and enlarge mutual trade It is interesting that there is political willingness to form an
and investment, with the reduction and then elimination of FTA, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, India is proving more
tariffs (as well as non-tariff barriers) the priority objective, hesitant at the prospect of highly competitive Chinese products
along with other trade facilitation measures such as denition ooding its markets than the other way round. If these two
of common product standards. The agreement may eventually rapidly growing Asian economies can work out a trade
extend to trade in services. agreement, all East and South Asian markets would receive a
An FTA encourages member states to avoid double signicant boost.
taxation, promote e-commerce, and encourage business groups Since 1 January 2006, seven South Asian nations
to strengthen communication and exchange ideas. Although (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and
ASEAN and China are not regarded as highly complementary Sri Lanka) have become members of the South Asia Free Trade
economies, economic relations between the two have Area (SAFTA). Abraham and van Hove (2005) again use a
improved. AFTA has helped China allay regional fears of its gravity model to show that if China were to join SAFTA its
dominance and reassure its neighbours about how China will trade potential would increase considerably, with India and
use its rising economic prowess. The ASEAN economies have Sri Lanka in particular beneting signicantly.
been positively disposed to the FTA concept because it allowed In addition, in September 2004, it was agreed at trade
them time to encourage greater efciency and productivity in minister-level talks between ASEAN and India to establish an
their manufacturing sector during the rst few years.8 Using a FTA in January 2005, with initial reductions on tariffs on 105
gravity model of trade,9 Abraham and van Hove (2005) show tradables and intentions to further reduce tariffs. Although an
that the trade potential of Chinas integration into ASEAN is ASEANIndia FTA feasibility study was launched in 2005,
very high, with much higher volumes of Chinese exports and there has been little tangible progress in negotiations. Several
imports compared with the case if it had not joined. areas of disagreement have persisted. However, the Indonesian
The original overtures by China encouraged Japan and trade minister visited India in January 2008, and the two sides
South Korea to make similar proposals to the ASEAN are hopeful of succeeding and forming an FTA in 2008.
economies. At the ASEAN Manila summit of 1999, Asian The evolution of a trade-heavy FTA, providing rules
leaders agreed on broad economic co-operation and resolved to additional to those already specied under the WTO, between
promote economic linkages among East Asian countries and the economies named above, would be a pragmatic and
the ASEAN region. In 2001, the concept of the ASEANChina rewarding policy measure with favourable welfare implications
FTA was broadened and began to be seen as a step towards an for members. Such an FTA must consciously avoid the pitfall of
economic integration arrangement encompassing ASEAN, turning into a messy arrangement which fails to improve upon
China, Japan and South Korea (the so-called ASEAN-Plus- WTO rules, and which, in reality, becomes more a mechanism
Three, or APT). This FTA combines a good number of high- for foreign policy than for freeing trade.
income Asian economies with several low-income ones.
A de facto APT grouping had already emerged after the
Summary and conclusions
Kuala Lumpur ASEAN summit in 1997 to take defensive policy
initiatives in the wake of the Asian nancial crisis. Since then, Over the last four decades, Chinas rapid growth has had major
the APT group members have continued to meet annually, and ramications for both national and regional economies in Asia.
APT activities have extended at bureaucratic, academic and Rapid growth in Asia overall, but most particularly in China,
cultural levels. The rst APT summit was held in Phnom Penh has resulted from free-market-oriented neoclassical economic
in 2002, following the ASEAN summit. However, despite a policies and principles.
plethora of summits and senior ofcial meetings, it has During the period under consideration, intra-regional trade
arguably delivered little. Reactionary regionalism in Asia is in Asia developed at a rapid rate. This intra-regional trade
expanding beyond APT and promoting the development of expansion was assisted by falling trade costs due to declining
an East Asian community with stronger supranational trade barriers (both tariffs and non-tariffs), falling transport
institutions. To this end, the rst East Asian Summit was held and freight charges, advances in information and
in December 2005, during which Australia, New Zealand and communications technology, and development of regional
India were invited to join APT. Some of the Asian economies production networks. China has played a prominent role in
were not comfortable with the inclusion of the three new increasing intra-regional trade. A large part of this increase was
entrants, fearing it would weaken their common regional the result of the ongoing dispersion or splitting of production
identity. processes leading to vertical specialisation of trade, of which
China and India have also held discussions on reducing China has been an integral part, and to which a signicant
trade barriers, and a free-trade agreement between them in the portion of its imports can be attributed. Accordingly, Chinas

2008 The Author. Journal compilation Institute of Economic Affairs 2008. Published by Blackwell Publishing, Oxford
ecaf_846.fm Page 61 Thursday, August 28, 2008 4:01 PM

iea e c o n o m i c a f fa i r s s e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 8 61

exports contain a high share of imported items from 9. A gravity model of trade resembles Newtons formula for the universal law of
gravitational attraction, modelling the trade flow between two countries as
neighbouring economies. proportional to the product of their economic mass divided by the distance
Chinas increasing competitiveness in the area of between them (although in Newtons formula the distance is squared).
international trade is likely to cause intense competitive
pressure for some Asian economies. The ASEAN-4 group
References
would be the set of economies most affected by such
competition, although South Asian economies will also be Abraham, F. and J. van Hove (2005) The Rise of China: Prospects of
Regional Policy, Review of World Economics, 141, 3, 486509.
affected in certain sectors of their exports. Low-income Asian Akamatsu, K. (1961) A Theory of Unbalanced Growth in the World
economies are also likely to be adversely affected by Chinas Economy, Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, 86, 1, 196217.
labour-intensive exports. In the short-term, China is likely to Athukorala, P. C. (2006) Multinational Production Networks and the
Geo-economic Division of Labour in the Pacific Rim, Working
cause resource dislocation in these economies in specic Paper No. 2006-09, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies,
sectors. The textile and apparel sector is one important Australia National University, Canberra.
example. BCG (Boston Consulting Group) (2006) The New Challenge: How 100
Top Companies from Rapidly Changing Developing Economies are
Long-term export data series for China and the rest of Asia Changing the World, Boston, MA: BCG.
display a striking, if not surprising, co-movement. This Brown, D. K., A. V. Deardorff and R. M. Stern (2004) The Effect of
indistinguishable co-movement in export growth over the long Multinational Production on Wages and Working Conditions in
Developing Countries, in R. Baldwin and L. A. Winters (eds.)
term can be taken to mean the exports of both China and its Challenges to Globalization: Analyzing the Economics, Chicago:
Asian neighbours were determined more by common University of Chicago Press.
determinants in the recent past. If so, competition between Cerra, V., S. A. Riveera and S. C. Saxena (2005) Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon: What are the Consequences of Chinas WTO Entry
the two had a lesser effect on them. for Indias Trade?, Working Paper No. WP/05/101, International
Sensitive to the allegation of disrupting and dislocating the Monetary Fund, Washington, DC.
performance of other countries in the region, China took the Das, D. K. (1996) The Asia-Pacific Economy, London: Macmillan; New
York: St. Martins Press.
initiative in managing its economic relations with them by Das, D. K. (2004) Financial Globalization and the Emerging-Market
proactively encouraging the creation of free-trade agreements Economies, London: Routledge.
in the region. The concept of an ASEANChina FTA became Das, D. K. (2005) Asian Economy and Finance: A Post-crisis Perspective,
New York: Springer.
a seed for a larger FTA in the form of ASEAN-Plus-Three, Das, D. K. (2006) China and India: A Tale of Two Economies, London:
bringing together East Asian economies with South-East Asian Routledge.
ones. Expansion to include Australia, New Zealand and India Dean, J. M., K. C. Fung and Z. Wang (2007) Measuring the Vertical
Specialization in Chinese Trade, US International Trade
has also been proposed. If in the fullness of time a trade-heavy Commission, Working Paper No. 2007-01, January.
FTA, providing rules additional to those already specied Economist (2007) Asia in 2008: The Olympics put China on the
under the WTO, evolves between these economies, it will be a International Stage, 20 December.
Jones, R., H. Kierzkowski and C. Lurong (2004) What Does the
pragmatic and rewarding policy measure with favourable Evidence Tell Us about Fragmentation and Outsourcing?,
welfare implications for members. International Review of Economics and Finance, 14, 3, 305316.
Kwan, C. H. (2002) The Rise of China and Asias Flying Geese Pattern of
1. The ten Asian high-performing economies that turned Asia into the most Economic Development: An Empirical Analysis, Discussion Paper
rapidly growing region of the recent past comprised China, Hong Kong SAR, No. 02-E-009, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry,
Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan Tokyo.
and Thailand. This dynamic group of Asian economies was led by Japan. Ozawa, T. (2003) Pax Americana-led Macro-clustering and
China is the latest entrant to the group. Flying-geese Style Catch-up in East Asia: Mechanism of
2. Emerging market economy is a term coined by Antoine W. van Agtmael of Regionalized Endogenous Growth, Journal of Asian Economies, 13,
the International Finance Corporation in 1981. It is a sub-set of developing 6, 699713.
economies. See Das (2004, Chs. 1 and 2), for an explanation of what Pangestu, M. and S. Gooptu (2004) New Regionalism: Options for East
emerging market economies are and how are they defined. Asia, in K. Krumm and H. J. Kharas (eds.) East Asian Integrates:
3. The four newly-industrialised Asian economies are Hong Kong, South Korea, A Trade Policy Agenda for Shared Growth, Washington, DC: World
Singapore and Taiwan. Bank.
4. The acronym ASEAN stands for the Association of South-East Asian Nations, Rumbaug, T. and N. Blancher (2004) International Trade and the
which has ten members. The ASEAN-4 economies are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Challenges of WTO Accession, in E. Prasad (ed.) Chinas Growth
Philippines and Thailand. and Integration into the World Economy, Occasional Paper No. 232,
5. Various detailed accounts of regional production networks are available. For Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund.
instance, see Athukorala (2006), Brown et al. (2004), Jones et al. (2004) and Yi, K. M. (2003) Can Vertical Specialization Explain the Growth of
Yi (2003). World Trade?, Journal of Political Economy, 111, 1, 52102.
6. Vertical specialisation refers to a country specialising in a certain part of the Yu, J. and S. Cheng (2004) The ASEANChina Free Trade Area: Genesis
supply chain, using imported intermediate parts to produce goods which are and Implications, Australian Journal of Internal Affairs, 58, 2,
later exported. 251270.
7. This FTA is in fact currently only between China and the six original ASEAN Zebregs, H. (2004) International Trade in Emerging Asia, International
members: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Monetary Fund, Policy Discussion Paper, PDP/04/1.
Thailand. The later ASEAN members (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and
Vietnam) will need to comply with AFTA by 2012. Dilip K. Das is Professor of International Economics at the School of
8. See Yu and Cheng (2004) as well as Das (2004, 2005) for detailed discussion. Business, Conestoga College, Ontario, Canada (dilip.das@sympatico.ca).

2008 The Author. Journal compilation Institute of Economic Affairs 2008. Published by Blackwell Publishing, Oxford

You might also like