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How close is Asia already to being a trade bloc?

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  • Li, Chunding
  • Whalley, John

Abstract

FTA bilateral and regional negotiations in Asia have developed quickly in the past decade moving Asia ever closer to an economic union. This paper uses a fifteen-country global general equilibrium model with trade costs to numerically calculate Debreu distance measures between the present situation and potential full Asia integration in the form of a trade bloc. Our results reveal that these large Asia economies can be close to full integration if they act timely in agreements through negotiation. All Asia countries will gain from Asia trade bloc arrangements except when the Asia FTA can only eliminate tariffs. These countries’ gain will increase as bilateral non-tariff elimination deepens. Larger countries will gain more than small countries. Asia FTA, Asia Union and RCEP will benefit member countries more than ASEAN+3. Global free trade will benefit all countries the most.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Chunding & Whalley, John, 2017. "How close is Asia already to being a trade bloc?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 847-864.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:45:y:2017:i:4:p:847-864
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2016.08.001
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    Cited by:

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    2. Stuart S. Rosenthal & William C. Strange, 2020. "How Close Is Close? The Spatial Reach of Agglomeration Economies," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 27-49, Summer.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Asia trade bloc; Debreu distance; Trade cost; Simulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models

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