scholarly journals Economic Implications of Deeper South Asian–Southeast Asian Integration: A CGE Approach

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ganeshan Wignaraja ◽  
Peter Morgan ◽  
Michael G. Plummer ◽  
Fan Zhai

Using a computable general equilibrium model, this paper estimates the potential gains from deepening integration across South Asia and Southeast Asia. If the two regions succeed in dropping inter-regional tariffs, reducing non-tariff barriers by 50 percent, and decreasing inter-regional trade costs by 15 percent—which the paper suggests are ambitious but nevertheless attainable—welfare in South Asia and Southeast Asia would rise by 8.9 percent and 6.4 percent of GDP, respectively, by 2030. Hence, we conclude that deepening South Asian regional cooperation together with building links to Southeast Asia would pay off rich dividends.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyn-Young Park ◽  
Peter A. Petri ◽  
Michael G. Plummer

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) presents strong potential to mold regional trade and investment patterns well into the future and to influence the direction of global economic cooperation at a challenging time. This paper evaluates the RCEP’s impact on global and regional incomes, trade, economic structure, factor returns, and employment using a computable general equilibrium model. The results suggest that the RCEP agreement could generate sizable global income gains. Together with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership, the RCEP will also strengthen the region’s manufacturing supply chains, raising productivity and increasing wages and employment.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-197
Author(s):  
Renu Verma ◽  
Jaidev Dubey

During last decade, the stalemate in multilateral trade negotiations under the framework of World Trade Organization (WTO) regime has provided impetus to the signing of regional trade agreements world over .South Asia is not an exception to this trend and has been involved in setting up its own bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). Most commonly cited cooperation agreements are Agreement on Trade and Commerce between India and Bhutan(1972), India-Nepal Bilateral Trade and Transit Treaties(1991), India–Sri Lanka Bilateral Free Trade Area(1998) Bangkok Agreement (1975),  Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation (BIMST-EC-2004) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association of Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC-1997). One of  the most significant steps  towards regional economic cooperation in the history of South Asian countries, was taken with signing of The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) formed in 1985 with the objective of exploiting “accelerated economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region” for the welfare of the peoples of South Asia. And then seven South Asian countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka—initiated a framework for region-wide integration under the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) in 1995. In order to further cement the regional economic relations and overcome some impediments of SAPTA, the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) was signed in early 2004, which came into force on 1st July 2006. The SAFTA is a parallel initiative to the multilateral trade liberalization commitments of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries. SAFTA aims to reduce tariffs for intraregional trade among the seven SAARC member countries. It has been agreed that for the South Asian countries, Pakistan and India will eliminate all tariffs by 2012, Sri Lanka by 2013 and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal by 2015. The current paper is an attempt in assessing the potential trade in the region with latest dataset  with Gravity model approach.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-280
Author(s):  
Mamta Kumari ◽  
Nalin Bharti

Higher trade costs in developing countries have received enormous attention during the recent past. In this context, it is imperative to revisit the factors contributing to such higher trade costs. This article attempts to explore the major determinants of trade costs conceptually and empirically. Further, the study endeavours to solve the puzzle of higher trade costs in the South Asian perspective. Using panel data of 93 countries from 2007 to 2015, the study tends to uncover major determinants of trade costs between South Asian countries and their two proximate regional blocks, namely Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In estimating the model, the study prefers to use fixed-effect estimation technique, owing to the results of statistical tests carried out to choose the most appropriate model for the estimation. The findings of the study reveal that trade facilitation, political corruption and financial development affect intra-regional trade costs of South Asia significantly. Trade facilitation influences trade costs between South Asia and ASEAN. Moreover, trade facilitation and financial development affect trade costs between South Asia and APEC. The diagnoses of South Asian intra and inter-regional trade costs can push forward ongoing efforts at unlocking the potential of regional integration as well as global integration of the region.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Razaul Karim

This article shows that two regional organizations- the Association of South East Asian Nations and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation were established for regional cooperation and integration. Though both regional organizations’ principles, objectives have similarity but unfortunately, SAARC became an ineffective organization by failing to achieve its goal. Intra-regional trade of SAARC is significantly worse than other regions in the globe. This article tries to find out the reason behind the ineffectiveness of SAARC and concludes that India-Pakistan rivalry, India’s role with smaller countries and mutual mistrust among the nations of South Asia are the main causes that made SAARC an ineffective organization. On the contrary, ASEAN nations have practiced informal diplomacy to mitigate their bilateral disputes, decision making process- the ASEAN way, Indonesia’s positive role made ASEAN a successful organization. The article has also shown a comparative analysis between SAARC and ASEAN for identifying some good examples which SAARC countries could follow.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-345
Author(s):  
Zahid Shahab Ahmed ◽  
Munir Hussain

South Asian regionalism—mainly represented by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)—has always been vulnerable to the influence of the long-standing bilateral disputes, and South Asian intra-regional trade and economic cooperation is limited. This article examines economic integration in Europe, from the 1950s to Britain’s decision to exit from the European Union (EU) in 2016, in order to identify possible lessons for the SAARC. In particular, this article makes use of Gürler’s model of economic integration to propose a way forward for economic cooperation through the SAARC. While the full implementation of the EU’s model of economic integration appears to be a distant reality for the SAARC, this article argues that a revitalized SAARC is nonetheless a suitable vehicle for pursuing a gradual process of economic cooperation in South Asia that may ultimately lead not only to economic integration but also the resolution of political disputes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habib Zafarullah ◽  
Ahmed Shafiqul Huque

Purpose With climate change and environmental degradation being major issues in the world today, it is imperative for governments within a regional setting to collaborate on initiatives, harmonize their policies and develop strategies to counter threats. In South Asia, several attempts have been made to create a common framework for action in implementing synchronized policies. However, both political and technical deterrents have thwarted moves to accommodate priorities and interests of collaborating states. The purpose of this paper is to assess these issues and existing policies/strategies in selected South Asian countries and evaluate integrated plans of action based on collaborative partnerships. Design/methodology/approach Using a broad exploratory and interpretive approach, this paper evaluates how harmonization of environmental principles and synergies among countries can help reduce the effect of climate change and environmental hazards. Based on a review of ideas and concepts as well as both primary and secondary sources, including official records, legislation, inter-state and regional agreements, evaluation reports, impact studies (social, economic and ecological), and commentaries, it highlights several initiatives and processes geared to creating environmental protection standards and practices for the South Asian region. Findings Climate change has resulted in devastating impacts on people. It contributed to the proliferation of climate refugees and high incidence of poverty in South Asia. The region faces both political and technical obstacles in developing a sustainable approach to combat climate change. This is exacerbated by non-availability of information as well as reluctance to acknowledge the problem by key actors. The best strategy will be to integrate policies and regulations in the various countries of the region to develop strategic plans. The approach of prevention and protection should replace the existing emphasis on relief and rehabilitation. Originality/value The paper provides a critical overview of the climatic and environmental problems encountered in the South Asian region and provides pointers to resolving shared problems through the use of policy instruments for regulating the problems within the gamut of regional environmental governance. It attempts to identify solutions to offset regulatory and institutional barriers in achieving preferred results by emphasizing the need for redesigning regulatory structures and policy approaches for ecological well-being.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Syed Shoyeb Hossain ◽  
Huang Delin

Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models are mostly used for agricultural market analysis globally. This paper constructs a Computable General Equilibrium model using Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model followed by the GTAP 9A database. The primary aim of this paper is to analyze the potential impact of tariff increase on Agricultural crop sectors (Rice and Wheat) in Bangladesh and then describes the construction of the database. It also attempts to detect the trend of the tariff change impact on rice and wheat production in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries. Using database reference year 2011, this paper builds a computable general equilibrium model to measure the Tariff impact in Bangladesh. Result of the model suggests that if an import tariff is imposed, it will affect domestic-foreign relative price between Bangladesh and other south Asian countries. Bilateral trade between Bangladesh and South Asia country will decline sharply. Finally, this paper explained the policy scenario, data sources, and processing methods in details.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-195
Author(s):  
Tri Shinta

South Asia is a complex region. It is marked with the emergence and continuity of the conflict. India-Pakistan conflict is one of them. This conflict begun on 1947 and the biggest of conflict divided into three conflicts. Functionalism according to David Mitrany in “A Working Peace System” believes that Region Integration is trusted to make the conflict lower and good relation among state. This perception applied on 1985 in South Asia, which known with SAARC (The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation). The fact, this conflict still continues till today. However, this paper seeks for the analysis of how’s functionalism theory explain the conflict of India-Pakistan on the regional integration: is that the conflict form an ideal integration of Sout Asia and decline the conflict, or conversely. Furthermore, the result of this research describes that Functionalism is not success on explaining South Asia integration, which means the India-Pakistan conflict still exist and the real integration among member states still not exist yet.


Author(s):  
Mst. Sahiba Mahbub

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a standout amongst the latest and remarkable regional economic integration strategies of Chinese government. This initiative incorporates South Asia which is a piece of Asian territory. From past researches we came to know that regional trade intensity among south Asian nations is low. The majority of the analysts finished up by computing the general list at beneath 0.5. Notwithstanding various multilateral and reciprocal Free Trade Agreements (FTA) exchange coordination did not increment attractively. India has reciprocal FTAs with every south Asian nation. Also this sub region is among the significant exchange accomplices of India. There are double suppositions of India about Chinese BRI initiative. In this research we found an answer of an inquiry that, regardless of whether BRI has sway on trade coordination among India and south Asian nations. We utilized a blended gravity model equation from Hayakawa et.al (2015) and Weerehewa (2009) inquire about papers to assess the aftereffects of variables.


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