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1. Toward a theory of policy efficiency / Philippa Dee -- 2. South Asia's economic prospects from global rebalancing and integration / Dipak Dasgupta, Nihal Pitigala and Julien Gourdon -- 3. Comparing structural reforms in India and Pakistan / Ishrat Husain and Rajiv Kumar -- 4. The process of banking sector reforms in India / Rajendra R. Vaidya -- 5. Monitoring fiscal performance in India / D.K. Srivastava and J.V.M. Sarma -- 6. Foreign direct investment in India : unfinished agenda / Pravakar Sahoo -- 7. Policy efficiency of trade reforms in India / Geethanjali Nataraj -- 8. Financial sector reforms in Pakistan / Zafar Mueen Nasir -- 9. Sri Lanka's economic reform process : progress and constraints / Dushni Weerakoon -- 10. India-Pakistan trade : a roadmap for enhancing economic relations / Mohsin S. Khan.

While South Asia's economic reform initiatives of the last two decades were often born in crisis, this alone does not account for their occurrence. This book looks at the processes and institutional arrangements behind these reforms, and analyses what lessons can be learnt about how South Asia can improve its policy efficiency. The book develops ideas about how to overcome the political restraints to reform by drawing on recent theories of political economy and policy learning. It tests these ideas against authoritative case studies of actual reform initiatives in South Asia, which illustrate processes and institutional arrangements that have helped South Asian governments to sustain reform efforts, even in the absence of a strong political base. This offers valuable lessons for the global economy as it moves into a phase of rebalancing, with the structural adjustments that this will require. The book goes on to identify weaknesses that could be addressed by South Asian national governments and regional forums. It is an important contribution to studies on South Asian Politics and International Political Economy.

Containing theoretical chapters and six country case study chapters, this book sets out some of the principles that are critical to success in regional cooperation and the ways APEC can promote structural reform efforts in APEC economies.

It is now generally recognized that special interest group influence on economic decision making is not in theory a phenomenon restricted to democratic capitalism. Governments which have attained power by non-democratic means must eventually seek legitimacy, either by populist appeals to the masses or by cultivating the support of important sectors (e.g. Lovell (1975)). They may therefore be no less immune to interest group lobbying than governments which face electoral scrutiny. Likewise, it has been argued that the incentive for interest groups to exert political pressure is in fact greater under socialism than under capitalism (e.g. Becker (1983)). The purpose of this paper is to present evidence on the role of special interest groups in economic policy making in the Republic of Korea (South Korea), a country which differs from a western capitalist democracy in at least one important respect.

Key Features:The first book to address the importance of non-tariff policies for further trade liberalizationFor the policymaker, it brings together a wide selection of the most recent findings of the potential effects of liberalizing non-tariff measures and improving trade facilitationFor the empirical practitioner, in-depth discussions are provided of issues often covered lightly elsewhere, such as data sources, construction of indices, and neglected microeconomic foundations of liberalization.

Ravenhill, John: Preferential trade agreements and the future of Australian trade policy. - S. 121-128. Ravenhill, John: The move to preferential trade on the Western Pacific Rim. Some initial conclusions. - S. 129-150. Dee, Philippa: The economic effects of PTAs. - S. 151-163. Mulgan, Aurelia George: Japan's FTA politics and the problem of agricultural trade liberalisation. - S. 164-178. Yang Jiang: Australia-China FTA. China's domestic politics and the roots of different national approaches to FTAs. - S. 179-195. Faunce, Thomas and Kathy Sats: Bilateral trade agreements as drivers of national and transnational benefit from health technology policy. Implications of recent US deals for Australian negotiations with China and India. - S. 196-213. Wesley, Michael: The strategic effects of preferential trade agreements. - S. 214-228. Capling, Ann: Australia's trade policy dilemmas. - S. 229-244