IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/soueco/v15y2014i2p175-197.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Will South Asia Benefit from Pan-Asian Integration?

Author

Listed:
  • Ganeshan Wignaraja

Abstract

This article examines the gains for South Asian economies from integrating with East Asia and India’s role in this process. Evidence of increased pan-Asian integration exists but the process is uneven. Bilateral trade has grown. Bilateral foreign direct investment flows and free trade agreements (FTAs) have also increased, albeit at a slower pace than trade. The integration process has been led by India and Pakistan with limited participation of smaller South Asian economies. Tackling key impediments in infrastructure, FTAs, trade barriers and business regulations, and barriers to services will foster further integration. Computable general equilibrium simulations suggest that a South Asia–East Asia FTA offers the most gains for South Asia and that India has an incentive to include its neighbours in such an arrangement rather than going it alone with East Asia. The rest of South Asia will gain by deepening South Asian integration and fostering ties with East Asia.

Suggested Citation

  • Ganeshan Wignaraja, 2014. "Will South Asia Benefit from Pan-Asian Integration?," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 15(2), pages 175-197, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soueco:v:15:y:2014:i:2:p:175-197
    DOI: 10.1177/1391561414548948
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1391561414548948
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1391561414548948?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kreinin, Mordechai E. & Plummer, Michael G. (ed.), 2012. "The Oxford Handbook of International Commercial Policy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195378047.
    2. Wignaraja , Ganeshan & Ramizo, Dorothea & Burmeister , Luca, 2013. "Assessing Liberalization and Deep Integration in FTAs: A Study of Asia-Latin American FTAs," East Asian Economic Review, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, vol. 17(4), pages 385-415, December.
    3. S.K. Mohanty & Sanjib Pohit, 2007. "Welfare Gains from Regional Economic Integration in Asia : ASEAN+3 or EAS," Macroeconomics Working Papers 22121, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    4. Robert Scollay & Annette Pelkmans-Balaoing, 2009. "Current Patterns of Trade and Investment," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joseph Francois & Pradumna B. Rana & Ganeshan Wignaraja (ed.), Pan-Asian Integration, chapter 2, pages 63-162, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Joseph Francois & Ganeshan Wignaraja, 2009. "Pan-Asian Integration: Economic Implications of Integration Scenarios," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joseph Francois & Pradumna B. Rana & Ganeshan Wignaraja (ed.), Pan-Asian Integration, chapter 8, pages 487-536, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Noland, Marcus & Park, Donghyun & Estrada, Gemma B., 2012. "Developing the Service Sector as Engine of Growth for Asia: An Overview," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 320, Asian Development Bank.
    7. Srabani Roy Choudhury, 2009. "Japan’s Foreign Direct Investment Experiences in India : Lessons Learnt from Firm Level Surveys," Finance Working Papers 22910, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    8. Inkyo Cheong & Jose Tongzon, 2013. "Comparing the Economic Impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 12(2), pages 144-164, Summer.
    9. Jayatilleke S. Bandara & Wusheng Yu, 2003. "How Desirable is the South Asian Free Trade Area? A Quantitative Economic Assessment," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 1293-1323, September.
    10. John Arnold, 2009. "The Role of Transport Infrastructure, Logistics, and Trade Facilitation in Asian Trade," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Joseph Francois & Pradumna B. Rana & Ganeshan Wignaraja (ed.), Pan-Asian Integration, chapter 6, pages 351-437, Palgrave Macmillan.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mustafizur Rahman & Hosna Jahan, 2015. "Second-generation Cooperation Agenda," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 16(1), pages 1-26, March.
    2. Ganeshan Wignaraja & Adam Collins & Pabasara Kannangara, 2019. "Opportunities and Challenges for Regional Economic Integration in the Indian Ocean," Journal of Asian Economic Integration, , vol. 1(1), pages 129-151, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wignaraja, Ganeshan, 2014. "Assessing the Experience of South Asia–East Asia Integration and India’s Role," ADBI Working Papers 465, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    2. Masahiro Kawai & Ganeshan Wignaraja, 2014. "Policy challenges posed by Asian free trade agreements: a review of the evidence," Chapters, in: Richard Baldwin & Masahiro Kawai & Ganeshan Wignaraja (ed.), A World Trade Organization for the 21st Century, chapter 8, pages 182-238, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Peter Morgan & Michael G. Plummer & Ganeshan Wignaraja & Fan Zhai, 2015. "Economic Implications of Deeper South Asian–Southeast Asian Integration: A CGE Approach," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 14(3), pages 63-81, Fall.
    4. ANDO Mitsuyo, 2009. "Impacts of FTAs in East Asia: CGE Simulation Analysis," Discussion papers 09037, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Ejaz Ghani & Musleh ud Din & Afia Malik, 2017. "An Assessment of Pakistan's Export Performance and the Way Forward," Working Papers id:12173, eSocialSciences.
    6. Ahmed, Saira & Ahmed, Vaqar & Sohail, Safdar, 2010. "Trade agreements between developing countries: a case study of Pakistan - Sri Lanka free trade agreement," MPRA Paper 29209, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. De, Prabir & Raihan, Selim & Kathuria, Sanjay, 2012. "Unlocking Bangladesh-India trade : emerging potential and the way forward," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6155, The World Bank.
    8. Peter W. Daniels & Pengfei Ni, 2014. "Urbanisation and changes in the sectoral structure of economic development: the scale of the manufacturing sector in Chinese cities and the shift towards service industry," Working Papers hal-00943972, HAL.
    9. Uzma Zia, 2019. "An Evidence of Diverging SAARC Economies," PIDE-Working Papers 2019:170, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    10. A. Ganesh Kumar & Gordhan Kumar Saini, 2007. "Economic co-operation in South Asia: The Dilemma of SAFTA and beyond," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2007-017, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    11. Rakesh Kumar, 2021. "South Asia: Multilateral trade agreements and untapped regional trade integration," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 2891-2903, April.
    12. Dushni Weerakoon, 2010. "The Political Economy of Trade Integration in South Asia: The Role of India," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(7), pages 916-927, July.
    13. Alexander Keck, 2005. "The Economic Impact of EPAs in SADC Countries," Working Papers id:288, eSocialSciences.
    14. Mustafizur Rahman & Towfiqul Islam Khan & Ashiqun Nabi & Tapas Kumar Paul, 2010. "Bangladesh's Export Opportunities in the Indian Market : Addressing Barriers and Strategies for Future," Trade Working Papers 23060, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    15. Stone, Susan F. & Strutt, Anna & Hertel, Thomas, 2009. "Assessing Socioeconomic Impacts of Transport Infrastructure Projects in the Greater Mekong Subregion," Conference papers 331872, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    16. Yothin Jinjarak & Paulo Jose Mutuc & Ganeshan Wignaraja, 2014. "Does Finance Really Matter for the Participation of SMEs in International Trade? Evidence from 8,080 East Asian Firms," Microeconomics Working Papers 24047, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    17. Raihan, Selim, 2012. "SAFTA and the South Asian Countries: Quantitative Assessments of Potential Implications," MPRA Paper 37884, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. A. Ganesh Kumar & Gordhan K. Saini, 2009. "Economic Cooperation in South Asia," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 4(2), pages 253-281, July.
    19. Suresh MOKTAN, 2008. "Assessing the Economic Impacts and Welfare Implications of SAFTA and SAFTA+3+2: The South Asian Experience," EcoMod2008 23800090, EcoMod.
    20. Raihan, Selim, 2011. "Economic Corridors in South Asia: Exploring the Benefits of Market Access and Trade Facilitation," MPRA Paper 37883, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic integration; computable general equilibrium; trade policy; industrialization; Asia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F17 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Forecasting and Simulation
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O24 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Trade Policy; Factor Movement; Foreign Exchange Policy
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:soueco:v:15:y:2014:i:2:p:175-197. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ips.lk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.