Suchergebnisse

Japan was the first non-western country to accomplish successful industrialization, and the dominant perception of its industrial policy had over-emphasized specific characteristics of Japan. However, from the perspective of today's development thinking, Japan's economic history shared a wide range of common factors in usual economic development: macroeconomic stability, human resource development, and economic infrastructure. Industrial policy in Japan sometimes worked well and sometimes did not, depending on how effectively it counteracted market failure and took advantage of market dynamism. We must note, however, that the external conditions faced by Japan were widely different from what today's developing countries face.

FTAs are proliferating in East Asia. This proliferation will become a foundation for the region's economic integration on the one hand, but will also lead to the ""spaghetti (or noodle) ball syndrome,"" due to a mixture of different rules such as rules of origin. In addition, the need for many procedures and documents, as well as custom clearance at borders for road transportation, consumes great time and costs, leading to high transportation costs. There are many issues to address in order to attain further economic integration. This book explores the current state and direction of economic integration in East Asia and examines how economic integration can allow each economy to benefit equally.

This paper applies an economic approach to empirically investigate differences in inward foreign direct investment (FDI) patterns between East Asia and Latin America and discusses the implication of regional trade arrangements. International production/distribution networks in East Asia effectively utilize the new economic logic of fragmentation, agglomeration, and optimal internalization and seem to greatly contribute to economic development. The paper examines statistical data for international trade as well as the activities of Japanese and U.S. multinational enterprises (MNEs) and argues that international production/distribution networks, particularly in machinery industries, are extensively developed in East Asia while remaining immature in Latin America. The impact of regional trade arrangements is substantially different depending on whether international production/distribution networks have already been developed or not. Our findings suggest that the impact of FTAA on FDI in Latin America by East Asian MNEs could be either positive or negative, depending on the content of FTAA and accompanying policies. If differentials between intra-regional tariffs and MFN-based tariffs are kept large, import-substituting FDI from East Asia may stagnate or even decrease. With a proper policy package to nurture international production/distribution networks, on the other hand, FDI from East Asia could be accelerated and contributed to deeper integration of Latin America.