Comments on: Time to re-think the economic partnership with Japan in Asia

By: Luke Nottage

Luke Nottage — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:52:28 +0000

I agree with your general thesis, Peter, and on my “Japanese Law and the Asia Pacific” blog I provide several illustrations of how Sydney Law School is already leveraging off growing Australia-Japan relations to expand legal education services into the broader Asian region:

“Australia and Japan: A New Economic [and Legal!] Partnership in Asia” at
http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/japaneselaw/2009/10/australia_and_japan_a_new_econ.html

I also encourage Australian law firms to “think regionally” (and globally) in (physically) joining other large international law firms now well-established in Tokyo’s growing market for legal services.

Luke Nottage

By: Peter Drysdale

Peter Drysdale — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:22:48 +0000

Of course I agree with you, Ian, that measured in ‘purchasing power parity terms’ Japan is not the second largest economy in the world. China has been bigger since 1993. I am probably neck and neck with you in the intellectual race to make that point in all the important contexts in which it is valid.

Measured in current dollar terms (gdp converted at market exchange rates), however, it is. In the context of measuring the current dollar value of market size, though not many other contexts, that’s a comparator that makes sense.

By: Andrew Elek

Andrew Elek — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:55:14 +0000

Dear Peter,

You could have made the additional point that an old-style preferential FTA focussed on bilateral trade and stuck on 19th century issues is now beside the point.

Your recommnendation is sound, but we need to make this point explicitly.

Thanks for a good article, stressing the multi-dimensional aspect of international transactions.

Andrew

By: Ian Castles

Ian Castles — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:39:37 +0000

The statement that “Japan is the second largest economy in the world, measured in terms of current dollar purchasing power” is incorrect.

Japan ranks second on the international league table after the US only if the “quick and dirty” method of translating the nominal value of countries’ GDPs into a common unit using “market” exchange rates is followed.

If purchasing power parity converters are used, as required by the System of National Accounts endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission, Japan’s economy is estimated to be much smaller than China’s and, according to some sources, smaller than India’s.