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Are Regional Trade Agreements in Asia Stumbling or Building Blocks? Implications for the Mekong-3 Countries

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  • Ms. Patrizia Tumbarello

Abstract

Is the recent proliferation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) in Asia a healthy development, or runs the risk of turning into an unmanageable "noodle bowl" in the future? The goal of this paper is to shed some light on this question. The results show that membership in the Asian RTAs considered in this study have not, to date, occurred at the expense of trade with nonmembers, as most Asian countries' integration with the global economy preceded regional integration. However, looking forward, given their discriminatory nature, a proliferation of RTAs, which is not accompanied by continuing unilateral and multilateral liberalization, could run the risk of leading to costly trade diversion.

Suggested Citation

  • Ms. Patrizia Tumbarello, 2007. "Are Regional Trade Agreements in Asia Stumbling or Building Blocks? Implications for the Mekong-3 Countries," IMF Working Papers 2007/053, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2007/053
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    Cited by:

    1. Rosabel B Guerrero, 2010. "Regional integration: the ASEAN vision in 2020," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Proceedings of the SARB/IFC seminar on "Economic and financial convergence en route to regional economic integration: experience, prospects and statis, volume 32, pages 52-58, Bank for International Settlements.
    2. Richard Pomfret, 2011. "Regional Integration in East Asia," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume I, chapter 16, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Rajan Sudesh Ratna & Sachin Kumar Sharma, 2016. "Mega Trading Blocks," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 17(2), pages 181-199, September.
    4. Badri Narayanan & Sachin Kumar Sharma, 2016. "An Analysis of Tariff Reductions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Implications for the Indian Economy," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 10(1), pages 1-34, February.
    5. Kawai, Masahiro & Wignaraja, Ganeshan, 2014. "Trade Policy and Growth in Asia," ADBI Working Papers 495, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    6. NAGEL Daniel, 2017. "The Fate of 21st Century Multilateralism," European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Bucharest Economic Academy, issue 02, June.
    7. Guillermo Perry, 2013. "Regional Public Goods in Finance, Trade and Infrastructure," Documentos CEDE 11888, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    8. Jérôme Trotignon, 2010. "La restriction des émissions de CO2 pénalise-t-elle les exportations ? Un modèle de gravité avec données de panel et variables muettes régionales," Post-Print halshs-00477244, HAL.
    9. Trotignon, Jérôme, 2010. "Does Regional Integration Promote the Multilateralization of Trade Flows?: a Gravity Model Using Panel Data," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 25, pages 223-251.
    10. Mohammad Imran Hossain, 2018. "Determinants and Prospects of Intra-regional Trade in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea (BoBAS) Rim Countries of South Asia: A Gravity Model Simulation Approach," South Asian Survey, , vol. 25(1-2), pages 27-58, March.
    11. Masahiro Kawai & Ganeshan Wignaraja, 2010. "Regional Trade Agreements in Integrating Asia," Chapters, in: Masahiro Kawai & Jong-Wha Lee & Peter A. Petri & Giovanni Capanelli (ed.), Asian Regionalism in the World Economy, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Jérôme Trotignon, 2009. "L'intégration régionale favorise-t-elle la multilatéralisation des échanges ?," Post-Print halshs-00335633, HAL.
    13. Trotignon, Jérôme, 2010. "La Restriction des émissions de CO2 pénalise-t-elle les exportations? Un modèle de gravité avec données de panel et variables muettes régionales," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 86(1), pages 5-33, mars.
    14. Kawai, Masahiro & Wignaraja, Ganeshan, 2011. "Asian FTAs: Trends, prospects and challenges," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 1-22, February.
    15. Sithanonxay Suvannaphakdy & Hsiao Chink Tang & Alisa DiCaprio, 2016. "Assessing the trade impacts of the ASEAN + 6 FTA for Lao PDR," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 30(2), pages 72-89, November.
    16. Güzin Bayar, 2018. "Estimating export equations: a survey of the literature," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 629-672, March.
    17. Masahiro Kawai, 2009. "The Asian “Noodle Bowl”:Is It Serious for Business?," Working Papers id:1936, eSocialSciences.
    18. Kiki Verico & Yeremia Natanael, 2018. "Let’s talk about the Free Trade Agreement (FTA): The five ASEAN members highlighting Indonesia," LPEM FEBUI Working Papers 201823, LPEM, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia, revised Jul 2018.
    19. Amr Hosny, 2012. "Algeria’s Trade with GAFTA Countries: A Synthetic Control Approach," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 19(1), pages 35-42, September.
    20. Verico, Kiki & Natanael, Yeremia, 2018. "Let’s talk about the Free Trade Agreement (FTA): The five ASEAN members highlighting Indonesia," MPRA Paper 87947, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Suvannaphakdy, Sithanonxay & Tang, Hsiao Chink & DiCaprio, Alisa, 2014. "Assessing the trade impacts of the ASEAN+6 FTA : the case of Lao People’s Democratic Republic," Working Papers on Regional Economic Integration 126, Asian Development Bank.

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    WP; right; ASEAN member;
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