Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Choong Yong Ahn, Chung-Ang University
Since the fourth quarter of 2010, the global economy has faced serious uncertainty and a turbulent outlook.
Both the US and Europe have gloomy growth prospects due to a lack of credible medium-term plans for debt reduction in the US and the sovereign debt crisis in southern Europe. Read more…
Author: John West, MrGlobalization
How does a Cold War organisation like the OECD respond to the end of the Cold War? Does it try to hang on to its former identity? Or does it embrace the new ‘age of globalisation’?
The end of the Cold War in 1989 represented a victory of values and ideology — the triumph of pluralistic democracy, respect for human rights and the market economy — for the OECD and its member countries. Read more…
Author: Boris Kheyfets, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russia’s bid to join the WTO was approved on 16 December at long last. This event marked the end of some of the longest negotiations in WTO history, with Russia making its initial decision to join the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade — the precursor to the WTO — in 1993.
But despite the decision to join, domestic debate about the appropriateness of Russia’s membership continues unabated. Read more…
Author: Jacob Kierkegaard, PIIE
The G20 Summit in Cannes probably made its most important contribution to global financial stability and economic growth before it even commenced.
The summit, held 3–4 November, became a deadline for European leaders to deal decisively with the economic and financial crises in the euro zone. Read more…
Author: Shinji Takagi, Osaka University
Financial integration can be defined in several ways. But the only relevant definition, in the context of ongoing policy debate in Asia, is in terms of bilateral financial links analogous to the way trade integration is typically defined.
No other definition would highlight the asymmetry between trade and finance in Asia. Read more…
Author: Wang Yong, Peking University
The upcoming G20 Summit in Cannes will undoubtedly attract the world’s attention, as many look to see whether the G20 can play a positive role in the global economic recovery.
And while searching for an effective solution to the crisis, the world will also focus on China, asking whether it might become a responsible ‘leadership state’ in an emerging global governance structure like the G20. The answer, it seems, is that based on its own interests, China is choosing to become a responsible contributor to global governance and wants to become part of the solution to the current global crisis. Read more…
Author: Mahani Zainal Abidin, ISIS
Asian institutions for regional integration have proliferated since the 1998 financial crisis. They range from highly formal to very informal.
Most were not based on a grand design or mission but were responses to key issues. Some institutions evolved according to the needs of the market, and their final form owes much to pragmatism and flexibility. Read more…
Author: Wang Yong, Peking University
Prior to joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), the common perception in China was that the WTO belonged to ‘the Club of the Rich’, where wealthy countries imposed rules on poor and weak developing ones.
Now, the WTO is one of the most widely recognised and respected international organisations within China. Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum
Europe’s woes and another week of volatility in world financial markets saw confidence in global recovery tumble.
The IMF meetings in Washington and the political follow up that is now playing out across Europe have done something to staunch the financial bleeding, but the global economy is still in emergency triage.
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum
If you ask the average punter in most countries around the region, from Canada through Asia to Australia, upwards of three quarters, it would appear, nominate China as the nation that will wield the most power ten years down the track.
The Chinese economy will almost certainly overtake that of the United States to become the world’s biggest economy in aggregate, though not in per capita terms, somewhere in the next 10 to 20 years, although there are few who suggest that it will match America’s military might any time soon. Read more…
Author: Yiping Huang, Peking University and ANU
The current international economic system is defined by three key features.
First, the United States is a dominant leader in designing and enforcing the international economic rules.
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, EAF
In East Asia, as elsewhere in the world, the risks that we continue to face in recovery from the global financial crisis, economically and politically, are a consequence not only of failure in national governance but also in the architecture of international governance, including regional architecture.
Failures that frustrated a coherent East Asian and international response to the big problems of the day (including payments imbalances, financial market reform, trade and exchange rate issues) in their global context. Read more…
Author: Eko NM Saputro
One of the priority areas for regional cooperation at the East Asia Summit (EAS) has been finance. At the last EAS Leaders’ summit in Hanoi last year this area was given special attention along with education, energy, disaster management and avian flu prevention.
The Leaders’ focus on financial cooperation was both timely and relevant in the current uncertain economic climate. Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, EAF
A striking feature of globalisation in modern times has been the huge growth of international capital flows.
Openness to international capital has enabled the rapid growth of the emerging economies, facilitated the productive deployment of investment funds as well as technology and other resources around the world and has helped to lift millions out of poverty in these countries. Read more…
Author: Jonathan D. Ostry, IMF
The debate over how to manage capital flows to emerging market economies ebbs and flows, much like the flows themselves.
But, it’s a hot topic in the news again for good reason. Short-term fluctuations in capital flows are occurring against the backdrop of a structural trend increase. Investors have woken up to the higher risk-adjusted returns these economies are likely to continue to offer. Read more…