Pradumna B. Rana - Böcker

Economic reforms implemented by the South Asian countries in the 1980s and 1990s had positive impacts on growth, and the region's share of world GDP had started to increase. But, more recently, economic growth in South Asia has softened somewhat due to a number of reasons. This book focuses on the slowing pace of economic reforms and makes the case for a two-pronged strategy to jumpstart South Asian economies. First, South Asian countries should complete the economic reform process that they had begun and implement the more microeconomic reforms, namely, the sectoral, and governance and institutional reforms to enhance competition and improve the operation of markets. Second, they should implement the second round of 'Look East' policies or LEP2 to (i) link themselves to production networks in East Asia, their fastest growing markets, and (ii) develop production networks in manufacturing and services within their region. The book argues that the proposed strategy will lead to a win-win situation for all countries in South Asia and East Asia, and reinvigorate economic integration within South Asia, one of the least integrated regions of the world. The book also identifies the unfinished policy reform agenda for each South Asian country and the components of the LEP2 that they should implement.

‘National Strategies for Regional Integration: South and East Asian Case Studies’ examines how each country’s integration with its neighbours and more distant regional economies might be improved. The country cases illustrate the diversity of Asian development experience and offer lessons for other countries and regions interested in developing national strategies to foster regional integration.

The traumatic experiences of the first half of the twentieth century helped shape the postwar global architecture, which saw the creation of the IMF, the GATT, and the World Bank. Today, this economic architecture is ill-fitted to the global economy. The balance of financial power has moved towards the emerging economies, especially those in Asia, a shift which is not sufficiently reflected in the governance of these institutions.New Global Economic Architecture addresses how a regional architecture, particularly in Asia, can induce a supply of regional public goods that strengthens the global public goods supplied through the global architecture, to promote sustainable economic development. The global network is moving towards a decentralized system with global, regional, and national institutions, and the book presents a comparison of the pace of reforms in various institutions and the identification of the reform agenda from an Asian perspective. It provides suggestions for strengthening regional institutions in Asia so they may better provide regional public goods. The evolution of institutions and policies that comprise the international monetary, financial, trade and development architecture is considered since their establishment after the Bretton Woods conference of 1944.Policymakers, academics, think tanks and practitioners will benefit from the international perspective of the book, particularly those interested in the influential Asian architecture. This book is also a useful reference tool for students of macroeconomics, development economics, international trade, and finance at both undergraduate and graduate levels.Contributors: A. Chabchitrchaidol, A.F. Cooper, H. Hill, M. Kawai, J. Menon, P.J. Morgan, V. Nehru, M.G. Plummer, F. Prada, P.B. Rana, R. Siregar, G. Wignaraja

‘National Strategies for Regional Integration: South and East Asian Case Studies’ examines how each country’s integration with its neighbours and more distant regional economies might be improved. The country cases illustrate the diversity of Asian development experience and offer lessons for other countries and regions interested in developing national strategies to foster regional integration.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), officially unveiled in 2013, is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign and economic policy initiative to achieve improved connectivity, regional cooperation, and economic development on a trans-continental scale.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), officially unveiled in 2013, is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign and economic policy initiative to achieve improved connectivity, regional cooperation, and economic development on a trans-continental scale.

This book focuses on the recent rise of new regional economic institutions such as the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which were established, in part, as a result of dissatisfaction of dynamic emerging markets with global economic institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the GATT/WTO. The latter were formed by advanced economies in the West, after the historic Bretton Wood Conference of 1944. In doing so, the book addresses how this recent round of decentralisation, defined as the co-existence of “senior” global institutions and a plethora of newly-established regional institutions, has affected global economic governance, and the delivery of global public goods. It also poses the question if this has led to the fragmentation of global economic governance. The book adds value to existing literature by using a benefit-risk analytical framework to study the decentralisation process. Unlike the “contested multilateralism” argument used by some authors which focuses on the costs of decentralisation, the authors argue that benefits must also be considered. It also describes and analyses the establishment of global and regional international economic institutions and the evolving relationships between the two. Third, the authors argue that this decentralisation process will continue in the postpandemic period and recommend policies to reset the relationship between global and regional institutions. And lastly, the book discusses proposals to reform the international monetary system including the global reserve system with a view to reducing the hegemony of the US dollar.Throughout the book, the role for Asia is also identified, and elaborated on.