Trade in developing East Asia: how it has changed and why it matters

Ileana Cristina Constantinescu, Aaditya Mattoo and Michele Ruta

No 8533, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: East Asia, for long the epitome of successful engagement in trade, faces serious challenges: technological change that may threaten the very model of labor intensive industrialization and a backlash against globalization that may reduce access to important markets. A detailed analysis of the evolution of East Asia's trade and trade policy in goods and services leads to the conclusion that how East Asia copes with these global challenges will depend on how it addresses three more proximate national and regional challenges. The first is the emergence of one East Asian country, China, as a global trade giant?accounting for nearly one-seventh of global exports and one-tenth of global imports -- which is fundamentally altering the trading patterns and opportunities of its neighbors. The second is the asymmetric implementation of national reform -- remarkable openness to goods trade and investment coexists with relative restrictiveness of services policies -- which is affecting the evolution of comparative advantage and productivity in each country. The third is the divergence between the relatively shallow and fragmented agreements that regulate the region?s trade and investment and the growing importance of regional and global value chains as crucial drivers of productivity growth.

Keywords: International Trade and Trade Rules; Common Carriers Industry; Food&Beverage Industry; Plastics&Rubber Industry; Business Cycles and Stabilization Policies; Construction Industry; General Manufacturing; Pulp&Paper Industry; Textiles; Apparel&Leather Industry; Export Competitiveness; Industrial and Consumer Services and Products; Transport and Trade Logistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-07-13
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/612321531499830843/pdf/WPS8533.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Trade in Developing East Asia: How It Has Changed and Why It Matters (2018)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8533

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().