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The study is about the factors related to stock markets of Asian economies. This study is based on determining the factors that influencing the regional economies of Asian countries. Second, it also discusses the how it impacting the stock exchange behavior in those market. A time series pairwise regression has used to examine the impact of macro-economic factors which is quite appropriate for the analysis and interpretation. There is clear evidence that it supports connection between Asian Economies Stock markets is also time varying, and macro-economic determinants significantly affect this time varying relationships. It is analyzed that there is long run interdependence exist between Asian stock markets and the Chinese stock market and macro-economic factors are significantly affect this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explain why Asian countries seem to have been hoarding international reserves, especially since the 1997 crisis, we consider various regional neighbourhood effects. One such effect is that of "catching up with the Joneses". We revisit that effect by analysing several refinements of it. We also consider the fear of the kind of contagion that the crisis‐hit countries saw in 1997. Finally, we look at the possibility of a regional financial cycle, in which the conditions that led to the crisis might have been correlated across countries. We find that refining the Joneses effect to take account of trade links strengthens its power to explain the build‐up of reserves. We also observe that a country that finds itself more vulnerable than its regional neighbours would tend to accumulate more reserves. Finally, we find that a common regional factor related to current‐account balances spurs further reserve accumulation. Contrary to previous analyses, our results suggest that only a couple of Asian countries have been holding excessive reserves. Some were actually holding less reserves than would be optimal in the presence of neighbourhood effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of late, the principle of ASEAN centrality has come under strain as various stakeholders of East Asia's evolving regional architecture have questioned ASEAN's ability and will to lead the region effectively. Recent signs of disunity among ASEAN member countries and the slow progress made towards establishing the ASEAN Community have not helped ASEAN's case either. On the other hand, even critics of ASEAN grudgingly admit that no regional arrangement in East Asia would likely succeed without ASEAN's involvement in a leading capacity. Against that backdrop, there are at least five interrelated ways ASEAN centrality has been understood and appropriated by its devotees and detractors alike. Centrality has been defined in terms of ASEAN as leader or driver, as convener or facilitator, as hub or key node, as an agent of (proposed) progress (and not just process), and as little more than an expedient device to preserve ASEAN's primacy in Asian regionalism and to ward off any form of architectural renovation which could lead to its marginalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increasing concern about the roles of industrial variety, particularly related and unrelated variety, in adaptive response of regional economies to recessionary shock. Using South Korean regional manufacturing data around the 1997 Asian financial crisis, this paper investigates how differently related and unrelated variety affect intrasectoral and intersectoral structural change in regional economy. The empirical findings reveal that regions with higher related variety adapt to recessionary shock mainly through intrasectoral structural change, but that related variety diminishes the opportunity for regional economies to pursue intersectoral reorganization. However, unrelated variety makes up for this negative effect as it increases intersectoral structural change. This study sheds light on the complementary roles of related and unrelated variety in regional adaptability and path creation or diversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations performing as a manager of regional cooperative activities in East Asia? Despite increasing attention regarding its role in development of East Asian regionalism, few scholarly discussions about the effectiveness of ASEAN's managerial practices at the operational level have been attempted. This article aims to fill the scholarly gap based on the author's participatory observation of discussions among practitioners regarding management of cooperative activities for ASEAN mechanisms. It suggests that ASEAN's performance as a driver of East Asian cooperation has been insufficient and may possibly have weakened the mechanisms for greater cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing mostly on Chinese-language sources, this article examines Chinese assessments of the effectiveness of China's earlier 'charm offensive' in increasing China's regional influence and reshaping the regional order according to its preferences. The main argument is that China achieved mixed success. China was successful in preventing others from adopting hostile anti-China balancing postures, and especially before 2005, successful in attaining support and momentum for its preferred vision of East Asian regional cooperation and regional trade liberalization. China was less successful, however, in shaping the regional security order, although experts recognized the incremental improvements in what would be a gradual process in minimizing the dominance of U.S. alliances. Around 2005, however, Chinese experts noted increased resistance to China's preferred vision for regionalism and regional economic cooperation. The article concludes by examining analytical themes that enabled China to successfully exert regional influence or represented challenges to its efforts to reshape the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, studies on inclusive development involve mainly the perspective of equitable distribution of economic and societal outputs. This study, however, takes a different approach and analyses the potential roles of regional coordination mechanisms (RCMs), specifically universities and research council's networks within Southeast Asia, in disseminating the innovation-related activities for inclusive development or Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID). The literature on innovation intermediaries within the realm of innovation systems studies was used to establish the framework of the study. The findings indicate that RCMs have a huge potential role to play. However, due to a number of reasons, including lack of funding support, lack of attention and commitment to IID, weak engagement with industry and non-governmental organisations, the implementation of the IID activities was rather poor. As a whole, the study argues that current approaches are not well positioned and it is fragmented preventing the effective use of RCMs despite their potentials for IID efforts. The study attributes this to the systemic failures in the regional coordinating systems. In enhancing the role of RCMs in IID, this study recommends the promotion of IID platform, the leveraging of non-government organisations and industry as well as energising the Southeast Asia engagement in promoting IID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest of Kazakhstan for Central Asia is the interest of a 'constructor'. Since 1991, it has been at the direct or indirect origin of several key initiatives: CICA, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and even a project of a Union of Central Asia. Theories of regional integrations have been enriching Asia for 20 years, and for 60 years in Europe. The key concept is that of a regional axis: a region is multilateral but needs to build itself around a privileged bilateralism among two neighbors-partners. The definition of such an "axis" is: two countries that have born among themselves the seeds of tension but that decide, voluntarily, to turn the page of history, through a strong and enduring bilateral relationship, sometimes through a founding Treaty, investing in the irreversible, political link with the aim of 'radiating' throughout the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of opposing views in the literature on the nature and dynamics of trade within the East Asian region, this study seeks to clarify the extent to which East Asian business activity is regionally oriented through an analysis of trade flows over the 1994–2007 period. It concludes that trade in the region is not yet strongly home region oriented, although imports are increasingly regionally sourced. Supply chains seem to be more regionally integrated than final product markets. There are striking differences depending on technology, especially among trade in high-, medium- and low-tech goods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Korean economy has suffered two major economic crises over the past 15 years - the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global financial crisis. After analyzing both the changes in policy environments and Korea's policy responses, the article argues that the ongoing global financial crisis provided a welcomed opportunity for Korea to increase its regional and global influence. Korea's regional leadership has been strengthened especially in promoting the 'development' issue in a number of international forums and in establishing a more effective crisis-prevention framework in the Asian region. As the host country of the 5th G20 Summit Meeting in 2010, Korea initiated a number of global issues, such as 'development', 'global financial safety net', 'green growth strategy', and has been successful in fortifying its position in the global arena. As a result, the global profile of Korea appears to have been raised both substantially and substantively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the economies of East Asia emerged from the global financial crisis of 2008 in comparatively strong positions, they remain structurally embedded within global markets. The degree of regional integration that has occurred within East Asia is thus predicated on the on-going interdependence with the economies of Europe and North America. Moves to advance East Asian regional cooperation in the wake of the crisis reflect this global interdependence, as well as intra-regional differences in interests and a lack of strong leadership within the region. Modest cooperation on an East Asian basis has continued since 2008 but the region is very far from realising a substantive regional governance model on economic and financial issues and does not appear to be pursuing a distinctive governance agenda. This article examines recent developments in East Asian regional cooperation, with a view to assessing the significance of current achievements and explaining the mixed and sometimes contradictory nature of initiatives for regional governance in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japanese government faces many competing challenges as it seeks to balance its multilateral and bilateral relationships within and beyond the region: whilst addressing its rapidly changing contentious domestic politics, there is pressure for it to realign relations with the USA, manage the rise of China, strengthen links with its region and continue to deal with its lingering historical legacy. All of these demands are now set against the backdrop of a so-called 'lost decade' of economic woes and global economic recession. This article demonstrates how the Japanese government is apparently adopting a de facto multilevel foreign policy, attempting to engage in a range of bilateral and collective initiatives simultaneously and to assume a regional leadership role whilst having to manage difficult bilateral relations, notably with the USA and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses regional policy and economic development in the European Union (EU), with a focus on how regional development in subnational regions of the EU can be applied to potential integration and regionalism within Asian countries. Topics include regional policy for the redistribution of resources among countries in Asia; regional economic integration in Asia and Europe; and comparative studies on international integration in Europe and Asia.

The economic growth of the regional economies, the promotion of China and the cultural resurrection of Confucianism force us to make new questions in relationship with the vague limits and borders of the new audiovisual areas. Moving away from both the old paradigm of cultural imperialism and the new one of de-territorialization, our research tries to identify the geocultural markets of the new audiovisual and cultural global order and its roots in centuries of Confucian tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan is located at the confluence of three vital regions of South, Central and West Asia and provides the shortest access to the sea for all landlocked countries of Central Asia besides Western China. Strategic communication and trade linkages among these three regions passing through Pakistan will transform the country into an economic hub giving boost to inter-regional economic activity. Baluchistan sits on estimated reserves of 29 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 6 billion barrels of oil. The Gwader complex will provide a port, warehouses, and industrial facilities for more than twenty countries. The port will eventually be able to receive oil tankers with a capacity of 200,000 tons. The construction of Gwadar port and related connecting routes with Afghanistan actually reduce these distances by approximately 500 km for Pakistan-Central Asia traffic. Pakistan and China are up-grading the Karakoram Highway (KKH). The two countries have agreed to open four new road links through the Khunjerab Pass, bringing the total number of China-Pakistan roads links to eight. Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have agreed to initiate a bus service that would not only enhance trade but also be an important tool to promote people-to-people contacts between the four countries. Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline projects are important to meet the growing energy needs of Pakistan and India. Although Central Asia is landlocked, the tremendous untapped hydrocarbon wealth of the Caspian Sea region makes it the world's envy. Pakistan offers the critical overland routes and connectivity for mutually beneficial trade and energy transactions intra-regionally and inter-regionally. Pakistan's membership and association of the regional organizations namely SCO, SAARC and ECO lends the country a unique position to facilitate inter-regional cooperation. Pakistan's participation in these projects will symbolize the return of the Indus valley to the central place in region-wide economic and cultural interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When debating the pros and cons of economic regionalism, have we focused more on trade in goods at the expense of services? This article argues that regionalism is certainly a building block not a stumbling block to a multilateral trading system, using the service liberalization scheme of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a case study. At the same time, it is critical to set out a proper institutional arrangement to ensure that regional service liberalization initiatives reinforce the global service regime. This article proposes an amendment of the current Article V of the General Agreements on Trade in Services (GATS) to define the appropriate relationship between multilateralism and regionalism in the context of services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, international relations in the Asia-Pacific were characterized by an emphasis on security affairs. Following the Asian financial crisis of 1997/98, this pattern has changed. In the early 21st century, policy makers in the region put emphasis on the deepening of economic relations. Both in trade and finance, new patterns of governance have emerged. The reasons are manifold. First, traditional security threats are not as important as they used to be. Second, the experience of 1997/98 as well as the current crisis have demonstrated that economic instability is of greater concern than security threats. Third, the economies of the Asia-Pacific are deepening their ties both at the level of production and with regard to investment flows. Despite these structural changes, the level of cooperation continues to be relatively low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to address an imperative topic in Asian economic development: the relationship between China's economic expansion and Asian economic growth. It tries to answer the all important query, whether China's economic ascent is a threat or an opportunity for the Asian economies. Due to the size of its economy, its openness and the rapidity of its GDP growth, China is swaying the individual Asian economies as well as the regional economy. When a significant-size economy is growing almost three times as rapidly as the global economy, the neighboring economies cannot possibly expect to remain impervious. Various issues are analyzed in the paper, including foreign direct investment inflows and impacts, regional production networks, plausible scenarios for China and the remaining Asian economies, and strategy for coping with China's rapid development. Although some Asian economies and some sectors will face adverse effects—short- or long-term—of China's rapid growth, the apocalyptic predictions are grossly overdone. For the most part, the impact of China's rapid growth can be mutually beneficial. This is the conclusive idea of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines India's role in services outsourcing within Asia. It provides a brief overview of the global as well as Indian services outsourcing industry. The core section examines India's relationship with other Asian countries such as China, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia in service outsourcing. It examines the extent to which these countries pose a competitive challenge to India and concludes that at this time, India is far ahead although it is likely to face growing competition as its costs rise. The paper highlights the need to move beyond this comparative paradigm and to examine the complementary and collaborative opportunities that exist between India and other Asian countries in services outsourcing. It concludes that there is considerable scope for such synergies and that India and other Asian countries can form different parts of a larger regional or global delivery model. Regional and bilateral agreements within Asia can also facilitate this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates data validity of available empirical sources and the extent of services sector labor market impact of offshoring in the US, EU-15 and Japan. A three-tier data validity hierarchy is identified, while the employment impact of offshoring in the three regions is found to be limited. Correspondingly, developing Asia is unlikely to experience large-scale employment gains as a destination region. Instead, the crucial role of domestic entrepreneurs in the growth of the Indian IT-related services industry is highlighted, as are the twin educational challenges facing developing Asia: the need to improve both primary and higher education simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a non-technical survey of the literature on offshoring and outsourcing, with special focus on the relevance of this literature for Asia. We first see how and to what extent this new literature helps us understand firms' tradeoffs between outsourcing and integration, the variation in the mixes of organizational forms and the location of outsourced activities. We also explore what plausibly triggers offshoring and thereafter what determines its dynamics. Finally, we draw inferences from the existing theory and empirical work about the developmental impact of offshoring on Asia, with special attention to issues related to inequality and poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A widely held consensus view claims that East Asia has been shifting recently from a market-led to an institution-based form of regional economic integration, primarily as a result of the 1997–1998 financial crisis. Next to post-crisis financial cooperation schemes under the ASEAN+3, the surge of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) involving East Asian countries is thought by some to further substantiate this claim. The objective of the paper is to question the validity of this claim. By examining the current state of play of economic cooperation, in the financial and monetary areas as well as in the trade sphere, the paper highlights the limitations of the formal regional integration movement in East Asia to date, as well as the vastly different dynamics underlying the financial and trade developments. It also explores the changing nature of intra-regional trade and investment linkages and concludes that this new form of interdependence may be instrumental in changing the trade-offs of formal regional economic schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pace of globalization is accelerating. It has been forecast that the Gross Domestic Products of the BRIC nations are expected to surpass those of the G6 countries by 2038. Regional economies will change rapidly, suggesting that engineering managers in the East will need to take different approaches to achieve success in the marketplace. This paper outlines five specific approaches, which constitute the EMIDE model, for engineering managers in the East to customize their engineering management practices, in order to capture these new growth opportunities, to expand beyond their local regions and to meet the challenges ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensified concentration of land, powerful political and social processes -headed by the Argentine Agrarian Federation (faa) -current debates about small-scale European agriculture, as well as the active role of small production in economic development in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, among other countries, constitute some of the various phenomena promoting an interest in family farming, especially in the context of a new agenda for rural development in Argentina. In the debate on family farming, we often used to see opposed views on the type of support it should be given and, as a consequence, on the role this sector should play in regional development. The present study makes a number of reflections that turn on these questions, often presented in the academic approach as axioms or dogmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of broader regional economic integration in Asia. It states that Asia's broader regional economic integration within the East Asian Summit (EAS) framework could be a good way for growth not only to the participating countries, but also to the welfare of the rest of the world. The Asian economic integration is seen to ensure peace and stability in the region. Moreover, it will enable Asia to build more democratic and multipolar world economy.

In 2004 and 2006, proposals were made at APEC summits to establish a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). This was an essentially a reworking of an idea first raised in the mid-1960s to create a Pacific Free Trade Area, or PAFTA. Although the PAFTA initiative never advanced, it helped lay the first organizational foundations for regional economic community building in the Asia-Pacific. The recent FTAAP proposal thus brings us full circle to the antecedent origins of APEC itself. If realized, an FTAAP would also create a free trade zone that would encircle the Pacific Rim economy and thereby subsume the region's now large number of bilateral and sub-regional free trade agreements (FTAs) into one unified agreement. Yet there are many inherent problems with establishing an FTAAP. These broadly relate to deconstructing the preferentialism of existing bilateral and sub-regional FTAs, achieving a consensus on the technical policy content and ideational principles on which an FTAAP would be based, and addressing various geopolitical issues such as reconciling the formation of a pan-regional Asia-Pacific FTA with an already fragile multilateral trading system. Growing interest in a 'rival' East Asia Free Trade Area project presents another geopolitical challenge. In considering these and other questions, it is concluded that many obstacles will remain in the path to realizing an FTAAP, and that this may not actually be a desirable objective to pursue for some time yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the economics, growth, stability and resilience of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN). According to the author, 2006 was one of the best year for regional economies after the financial crisis erupted in 1997. He also presented data showing economic growth among its member states from 2000 to 2006. Based on the findings, ASEAN economies proved to be resilient and are increasingly equipped to handle possible problems ahead.

The term "new regionalism" has come to resemble the ongoing phenomenon of proliferation of bilateral and regional trading agreements in the Asia-Pacific, especially in the aftermath of the regional financial crisis of 1997-1998. While ASEAN economies, beginning with Singapore, were the first to embark on this route, other major Asian economies, viz. China and more recently, India have followed suit. Although several studies have suggested adoption of a common framework on such agreements to be more WTO-consistent, there has been a dearth of studies on this issue in the Asian context. This article, while exploring some of the rationale behind new regionalism in Asia, provides a comparative analysis of tire ongoing bilateral and regional initiatives involving ASEAN, China and India and attempts to analyse the similarities and differences among them with respect to the negotiating framework, coverage of issues and depth of its commitments. The article observes that most of these initiatives are at best resulting in a partial liberalization, and are unlikely to be building blocks towards global free trade on their own, unless supported by unilateral and multilateral liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the catalytic effect of the European Union in the spread of regionalism in Asia. Development of institutional responses to complement the governance capabilities of the nation states; Role of the multiplicity of institutional forms on the geographic and demographic variability characteristic of regional groupings; Appeal of multilateralism to countries concerned with national security.

Debate over the continued relevance of postwar U.S. alliance systems in Asia is intensifying at a time when American ‘global’ and ‘regional’ strategies seem to be converging. The ANZUS alliance is no exception to this trend. Australian and regional security analysts have recently focused on whether Australia faces a ‘choice’ between sustaining U.S. alliance affinities and commitments in a `global' context or prioritizing its regional security postures in tandem with its growing economic involvement in Asia. It is argued in this article that the two approaches are complementary rather than divergent and that the current Australian government recognises this geopolitical reality. It concludes that alliances and other ‘classic’ state-centric mechanisms for pursuing both regional and international security will continue to be applicable to Australia's need for ‘getting the balance right’ between its future regional and global strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the popularity of restructuring in the regional economics in Europe and Asia. Relevance of economic geography in understanding the concept and process of restructuring; Pros and cons of restructuring; Definition of functional lock-in; Reason behind the popularity of restructuring in Asia.

Preferential trade agreements have been grown in Asia Pacific since 1998, hence after this region faced financial crisis. The growing of those trade areas is called New Asian Economic Regionalism. This paper shows this new wage of regional economic integration, focusing the trade, whose main features are: include countries that were not previously member of any preferential trade area; economies are members of more than one regional trade agreements; some of new agreements cross world' s geographic regions and many of the new agreements are bilateral. The paper gives economic integration definition and classification and the benefits and the limits that preferential trade agreements lead to economies. It is analyzed the areas of economic integration have existed yet and those in negotiation process in Asia Pacific region. Causes of the New Asian Economic Regionalism are analyzed: financial crisis of Asia, regional organisms and multilateral trade system lost of credibility, increasing preferential trade in other regions of the world and economic and political competition between countries of Asia. Conclusion is that if really there is integration between the economies, there will be a new cycle of Asian economic growth, mainly in East and Southeast Asia, continuing the economic model led by exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) emerged as the largest regional body in history and gave rise to two institutional discourses: open regionalism and Asian values. Open regionalism entailed the articulation of a non-discriminatory and inclusive regionalism. While endorsing the idea of an Asia-Pacific community, APEC has suffered as a result of clashes between two of its core constituencies, its Asian and Anglo-Saxon members. In reality, APEC had lost its articulatory role by the mid-1990s; no significant agreements have been concluded since the Osaka summit of 1995. However, Asian values have emerged as a vehicle for the advocacy of Asian identity, instead of the open regionalism of APEC. This paper, then, focuses primarily on these two institutional discourses and explores the evolution of APEC; how discourses on ‘Asianness’ have been articulated as an alternative to the idea of an Asia-Pacific identity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Examines the role of South Korea in East Asian economic cooperation. Discussion on the trajectory of East Asia regionalism; Information on the initiatives by South Korea in East Asian regional cooperation as demonstrated in Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus 3 process; Bid of South Korea for regional hub manifested in the Northeast Asian Economic Hub Strategy; Implication of South Korea's regional economic hub strategy for the country's relationship with the United States.

Focuses on issues concerning India's participation in the regional economic bloc called BIMST-EC, short for Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand-Economic Cooperation. Economic and social infrastructure; Trade; Transport linkages.

This work argues that the formation of an economic union requires that the homogeneity of domestic economic institutions and the process of regional integration reinforce each other. Granger causality tests on four cases of regional integration in the Americas, Asia and Europe (1975 through 1995) confirm our thesis. These cases include the Andean Pact, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Central American Common Market and the European Union. The most successful case of integration - the European Union - does evince a pattern of positive interaction between the two variables, while less successful cases, found in Latin America, are lacking in this mechanism of mutual influence. We further discuss several regional groups that have recently emerged and use our theoretical implications to assess their future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of mounting pressure to reduce state intervention in the marketplace, Japanese bureaucrats have managed to preserve threatened government institutions such as administrative and financial ‘guidance’. They have done so by promoting the regionalization, or Asianization, of Japanese industry, dispensing advice and capital both to domestic manufacturers investing in the region and to host states in Asia that regulate such investment. Japan's experience suggests that, under certain conditions, regionalization may exert a force that runs counter to globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Threats to Asia's economic growth are looming larger in 2001, with evidence of economic deceleration in the world's major industrial economies increasingly discernible since mid-2000. Slower economic growth in the U.S. and the European Union has cast some doubt on the near-term economic growth prospects of the Asia-9 countries in 2001. By and large, economic growth is in the Asia-9 to slow down from the average 7.3% in 2000 to an average 4.5% projected for 2001. Other than a slowdown in global economic growth, a possible sharp deceleration in the global electronics cycle cannot be ignored. The Asia-9's export performance tends to move in tandem with global semiconductor sales. However, as the economic forecast shows strong growth rate in global semiconductor sales over the next few years, a deep plunge in the global electronics cycle is unlikely. Furthermore, a sharp deceleration in global electronics demand would not appear imminent, unless world economic growth were to fall so drastically as to crimp the quest for productivity growth through technological improvements.

This article discusses the political economy context surrounding the Japanese proposal for an Asian Monetary Fund and highlights other recent initiatives towards enhanced monetary regionalism. The discussion reveals the keenness that the region has shown towards intensified co-operation in these areas. Nevertheless, the economic/political economy rationale for such co-operation does not appear to have been fully articulated, a void that this article attempts to fill. Insofar as "regional contagion" is seen as providing the analytical basis for monetary regionalism, a large part of the discussion is devoted to defining and highlighting the various transmission channels through which currency and financial crises may spread contagiously, and drawing out policy implications thereof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the globalization and regionalization of the Asian economy. Details on the globalization of capitalism; Relationship between globalization and regionalization; Information on the regionalization of global culture.

The article focuses on large cities, called global cities, which have emerged in Asia. In the midst of an era of stirring changes since the 1980s, Asia has figured prominently, largely because of the extraordinary economic performance of certain Asian countries, most notably Japan, the Four Little Dragons, the ASEAN countries and China. Even countries in South Asia performed quite impressively, well above the average of developing countries. Asian countries have grown so rapidly in recent years that some scholars have declared that the Asian century has arrived, or that the next millennium will begin with the Pacific century. The article focuses on global cities in the region specifically on their functions, formation, changing socio-economic milieu, and daily life. The pre-eminent global city is Tokyo, whose metropolitan area is home to some 25 million inhabitants. Hong Kong and Singapore have witnessed rapid growth as financial centres, transport nodes in air and container traffic and providers of advanced services in the global and regional economics. Along with the general trend to computerize and automate, many Asian cities have striven to construct intelligent buildings, which have beauty and brains, following similar innovations in American cities.

In this article, the author discusses about the economic regionalization in Western Europe. The author says that international trade-and-investment flows involving microeconomic actors, household consuming units as well as investing business organizations, in national economies are affected by macroeconomic policies of respective nations. The post-World War II economic era was basically centered on the U.S. dollar. The demand pull of the post-World War II U.S. economy sustained the new economic regime of export-led growth that progressed during the 1960s through the 1980s. The U.S. dollar can no longer anchor the world economy, and the United States can not continue to provide free international public goods. The United States and Japan are the two principal actors in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Japan's leading role in Asian economies extends beyond trade and investment flows. If their respective trade shares with Canada are added to the U.S. totals, the profile of economic interdependence between the two subsets of APEC economies on opposite shores of the Pacific may be better appreciated.

Comments on Seiji Naya's (1973) analysis of the relationships between fluctuations in export earnings and several structural characteristics which describe the trading patterns of countries in Asia. Lack of association between instability in intraregional trade and export instability; Merit of various indexes of export instability.

While the growth of trade may have substituted for potential movements of labour, its overall impact has been to stimulate economic growth and employment, and social and demographic changes which in turn create shortages of labour. As the regional economy continues to expand at a rapid pace, pressures will increase for importing foreign labour to do jobs that national workers no longer want. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]