Trade liberalization, financial modernization and economic development: An empirical study of selected Asia–Pacific countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thai-Ha Le ◽  
Binh Tran-Nam
Author(s):  
O. A. Podberezkina

The article discusses the political importance of transport corridors in terms of the development of integration projects in the post-Soviet space. The world is witnessing the formation of a single market and transport and communication infrastructure, which intensifies competition among regional and world leaders, both states and non-state actors, such as businesses, markets over the routes of transporting goods. In the medium and long term the value of the control over the transport routes will increase due to the dynamics of economic development in the Asia-Pacific region. Competition for the development of projects of international transport corridors (ITC) between the leading countries in the region will increase, because the ITC entail the formation of a common political space, the reduction of tariff and customs barriers, which provides easy access to the markets of countries linked by ITCs and creates the preconditions for economic integration. The growing political importance of ITC is reflected in the fact that global leaders such as China, the US, the EU, are trying to create their own versions of international land transport corridors connecting Europe and Asia. China is trying to promote their transport project "Economic Belt Silk Road" European countries develop cooperation on ITC TRACECA with other countries of Eurasia. US also embody their interests through the implementation of the project by the ITC in Afghanistan. Transport corridors in Russia are seen as a way to integrate it into the global transportation system and logistics space. To do this, Russia needs to develop Eurasian transport corridors through its territory. As a result of the implementation of transport projects Russia will be able to ensure the transit of goods from China to Europe, which has a positive impact on the economic development of the regions through which they pass. Development of international transportation through Russia will unite many of the players on the world stage: integration associations, state, transnational corporations, business entities, regional authorities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-81
Author(s):  
E. Arapova

During the 2014 APEC summit the participating countries agreed to move towards a region-wide economic integration and approved China-backed roadmap to promote the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). The paper examines prospects for economic integration in the Asia-Pacific in the framework of 21 APEC participating members. It aims to measure the “integration potential” of the FTAAP on the basis of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the actual statistic data, to explore key obstacles hampering economic integration in the region. The research comes from the theory of convergence and concept of proximity. They suppose that the higher is the degree of homogeneity in economic development and regulatory regimes of the integrating countries the higher is their “integration potential”. The objective of the author’s analysis is to measure the “integration potential” of APEC countries in four directions: trade liberalization, free movement of investments, monetary and banking integration, free division of labor. Initial estimates of the FTAAP prospects base on the merchandize trade complementarity indices and coefficients of variation analysis. Besides, the research uses hierarchical cluster analysis that helps to classify countries in different groups according to similarity of their economic typologies. This methodology allows to reveal the favorable algorithm of regional economic integration in the framework of the “hybrid approach” (or “open regionalism” adopted for APEC countries in 1989) which encourages the countries to enter into free trade agreements on a bilateral basis or to make offers to the APEC membership as a whole. Final conclusions are based on the results of authors’ calculations with consideration for contemporary trends of the member countries’ economic development and long-term strategies of economic growth. Acknowledgements. The research was supported by the Russian Fund for Humanities, project no. 15-07-00026 “East Asian regionalism in the context of diversifi cation of economic growth model”.


Author(s):  
Jayoti Das ◽  
Cassandra DiRienzo ◽  
John Burbridge

Using cross-country data from 140 countries, this empirical study extends past research by examining the impact of trust on the level of e-government. The major empirical finding of this research shows that, after controlling for the level of economic development and other socio-economic factors, trust as measured by ethnic and religious diversity, is a significant factor affecting e-government usage.


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