Takatoshi Ito - Böcker

The rapid emergence of East Asia as an important geopolitical-economic entity has been one of the most visible and striking changes in the international economy in recent years. With that emergence has come an increased need for understanding the problems of interdependence. As a step toward meeting this need, the National Bureau of Economic Research joined with the Korea Development Institute to sponsor this volume, which focuses on the complexities of tax reform in a global economy. Experts from Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, Japan, and Thailand, as well as the United States, Canada, and Israel examine the major tax programs of the 1980s and their domestic and international economic effects. The analyses reveal similarities between the United States and countries in East Asia in political constraints on policy making, and taken together they show how growing interdependence interacts with domestic economic and political concerns to affect issues as politically vital as tax reform. Economists, policymakers, and members of the business community will benefit from these studies.

During the first three decades following the Second World War, an increasingly open international trading system led to unprecedented economic growth throughout the world. But in recent years, that openness has been threatened by increased protectionism, regional trading arrangements--Europe 1992 and the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement--and setbacks in negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In Trade and Protectionism, American and East Asian scholars consider the dangers of this trend for the world economy and especially for East Asian countries. The authors look at the current global trading system and at the potential threats to East Asian economies from possible regional arrangements, such as separate trading blocks in the Western Hemisphere and Europe. They cover trade between the United States and Japan, Korea and Japan, and Japanese-East Asian trade policies; trade in agriculture and semiconductors and the frictions that have jeopardized this trade; and direct foreign investment.The contributors round out the work with discussions of the political economy of protection in Korea and Taiwan and political economy considerations as they affect trade policy in general. This is the second volume of the National Bureau of Economic Research-East Asia Seminar on Economics. The first volume, The Political Economy of Tax Reform, also edited by Takatoshi Ito and Anne O. Krueger, addresses tax reform in the global economy.

This volume explores East Asia's macroeconomic experience in the 1980s and the economic impact of East Asia's growth on the rest of the world. The authors explore the causes of capital flows, changes in trade balances, and exchange-rate fluctuations in East Asia and their effects on other countries. These 14 papers are organized around four themes: the overall determinants of growth and trading relations in the East Asian region; monetary policies in relation to capital controls and capital accounts; the impact of exchange-rate behaviour on industrial structure; and the potential for greater regional integration. The contributors examine interactions among exchange-rate movements, trade balances and capital flows; how government monetary policy affects capital flows; the effect of exchange rates on industrial structure, inventories, and prices; and the extent of regional integration in East Asia.

The increased mobility and volume of international capital flows is a major trend in international finance. While countries worldwide have engaged in financial deregulation, this pattern is most pronounced in East Asia, where it has created a major effect on the behaviour of exchange rates, interest rates and capital flows. In these 13 essays, American and Asian scholars analyze the effects of financial deregulation and integration on East Asian markets. Topics covered include the roles of the United States and Japan in trading with Asian countries, macroeconomic policy implications of export-led growth in Korea and Taiwan, the effects of foreign direct investment in China, and the impact of financial liberalization in Japan, Korea, and Singapore. Demonstrating the complexity of financial deregulation and the challenges it poses for policy makers, this volume seeks to provide a picture of the overall status of East Asian financial markets for scholars in international finance and Asian economic development.

The volume of capital flows between industrial and developing countries has grown dramatically in the past decade and has become a major issue in a world that is increasingly "globalized." Here Takatoshi Ito and Anne O. Krueger, two leading experts on this topic, have assembled a group of scholars who address different types of capital flows—bank lending, bonds, direct foreign investment—and the implications they hold for economic performance. With its particular focus on the Asian financial crises, this work presents a new model for policy makers everywhere in thinking about the role of private capital flows.

In recent years the tremendous growth of the service sector has outstrippped that of manfacturing in many industrialized nations, causing economists to focus on both the policy issues raised by services and the differences between production and delivery of goods and services. This is the first book-length attempt to analyze trade in services in the Asia-Pacific region. Contributors provide overviews of issues involved in studying the service sector; investigate the impact of increasing trade in services on the economies of Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong; present detailed analyses of specific service sectors; and extend our understanding of trade in services.

Over the last twenty-five years, there has been an acceleration in the move from government regulation toward privatization. Governance, Regulation, and Privatization in the Asia-Pacific Region is the first thoroughgoing account of the relative success of the different approaches to privatization as undertaken in Korea, China, Australia, and Japan. In most contexts, privatization is expected to yield greater efficiency and cost effectiveness while avoiding the corruption and bloated budgets of government regulation or monopoly control. But broad-scale privatization, as implemented in East Asia, has also yielded its share of difficulties when ill-designed. Due to a lack of both legal infrastructure and management guidelines, privatization sometimes created a vacuum in corporate governance for some of the region's most important industries and in some cases merely reinstated monopoly-like configurations. The papers presented in this book analyze the experiences of privatization in several industries, including railroads and telecoms, as well as corporate governance problems, accounting issues, and challenges for the future in East Asia.

The imbalanced, yet mutually beneficial, trading relationship between the United States and Asia has long been one of international finance's most perplexing mysteries. Although the United States continues to post a substantial trade deficit - and China reaps the benefits of a surplus - the dollar has yet to sink in the face of ever-increasing account disparities."International Financial Issues in the Pacific Rim" explains why the United States enjoys a seemingly symbiotic relationship with its trading partners despite stark inequities in the trade balance, especially with Asia. This timely and well-informed study also debunks the assumed link between economic openness and low inflation in the region, identifies the serious gap between academic and private-sector researchers' understanding of exchange rate volatility, and analyzes the liberalization of Asian capital accounts. "International Financial Issues in the Pacific Rim" will have broad implications for global trade and economic policy issues in Asia and beyond.

Recent studies show that almost all industrial countries have experienced dramatic decreases in both fertility and mortality rates. This situation has led to aging societies with economies that suffer from both a decline in the working population and a rise in fiscal deficits linked to increased government spending. East Asia exemplifies these trends, and this volume offers an in-depth look at how long-term demographic transitions have taken shape there and how they have affected the economy in the region. "The Economic Consequences of Demographic Change in East Asia" assembles a group of experts to explore such topics as comparative demographic change, population aging, the rising cost of health care, and specific policy concerns in individual countries. The volume provides an overview of economic growth in East Asia as well as more specific studies on Japan, Korea, China, and Hong Kong. Offering important insights into the causes and consequences of this transition, this book will benefit students, researchers, and policy makers focused on East Asia, as well as anyone concerned with similar trends elsewhere in the world.

Fluctuations of commodity prices, most notably of oil, capture considerable attention and have been tied to important economic effects, such as inflation and low rates of economic growth. "Commodity Prices and Markets" advances our understanding of the consequences of these fluctuations, providing both general analysis and a particular focus on the countries of the Pacific Rim. The volume addresses three distinct subjects: the difficulties in forecasting commodity prices, the effects of exogenous commodity price shocks on the domestic economy, and the relationship between price shocks and monetary policy. Accurately forecasting commodity prices is difficult but of great importance to businesses and governments, and this volume will be invaluable to professionals and policymakers interested in the field.

The failure of the dollar peg to prevent the Asian currency crisis of 1997 to 1998 has highlighted the importance of the exchange rate regime in Asia and provoked much discussion as to what the alternatives are in terms of exchange rate systems. Bringing together extensive research on Asian basket currencies in one volume, this new text discusses whether a currency basket system is the answer, striking a balance between the theoretical and empirical. With strong policy implications for East Asia, the impressive team of contributors argue that for countries that have close economic relationships with several currency areas, it is well worth considering a currency basket system. The book also pursues the important idea of coordination failure, whereby if each individual country tries to adopt an optimal exchange rate given other neighbouring countries' policies, they may collectively fail to reach a region's optimal exchange rate regime.A Basket Currency for Asia is a topical and significant text that will appeal to students and scholars of international finance and Asian economics.

The failure of the dollar peg to prevent the Asian currency crisis of 1997 to 1998 has highlighted the importance of the exchange rate regime in Asia and provoked much discussion as to what the alternatives are in terms of exchange rate systems. Bringing together extensive research on Asian basket currencies in one volume, this new text discusses whether a currency basket system is the answer, striking a balance between the theoretical and empirical. With strong policy implications for East Asia, the impressive team of contributors argue that for countries that have close economic relationships with several currency areas, it is well worth considering a currency basket system. The book also pursues the important idea of coordination failure, whereby if each individual country tries to adopt an optimal exchange rate given other neighbouring countries' policies, they may collectively fail to reach a region's optimal exchange rate regime.A Basket Currency for Asia is a topical and significant text that will appeal to students and scholars of international finance and Asian economics.

In this capstone volume in the INE series, the authors review the growing pressure for deeper international integration, explore the strengths and weaknesses of alternative approaches to dealing with these pressures, and present concrete proposals to help achieve a global community that will balance openness, diversity, and cohesion. A volume of Brookings' Integrating National Economies Series

Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields includes keynote lectures and papers from the 5th International Workshop on Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields (RMEGV2021, Fukuoka, Japan, 9-10 September 2021). This book deals with challenging studies related to solving engineering issues around volcanic fields, including: Volcanic geology, disasters and their mitigation Resources and energy in volcanic fields Mechanical behavior of volcanic rocks and soils Groundwater and environmental problems in volcanic fields Geotechnical engineering in volcanic fieldsRock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields is of great interest to civil engineers and engineering geologists working in the areas of rock and soil mechanics, geotechnical engineering, geothermal energy, engineering geology, and environmental science.

Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields includes keynote lectures and papers from the 5th International Workshop on Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields (RMEGV2021, Fukuoka, Japan, 9-10 September 2021). This book deals with challenging studies related to solving engineering issues around volcanic fields, including: Volcanic geology, disasters and their mitigation Resources and energy in volcanic fields Mechanical behavior of volcanic rocks and soils Groundwater and environmental problems in volcanic fields Geotechnical engineering in volcanic fieldsRock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields is of great interest to civil engineers and engineering geologists working in the areas of rock and soil mechanics, geotechnical engineering, geothermal energy, engineering geology, and environmental science.

The yen is now one of the major currencies freely traded in the world, and yet, many Japanese exporters take on a currency risk by invoicing in US dollars. In this book, the authors examine why this is the case, particularly for those exporters who have a strong presence in global markets.Managing Currency Risk enhances our understanding of exporters’ behaviour by analysing the key factors that influence their choice of invoice currency. Detailed research based on unique data sets is used to highlight how firm size, product competitiveness, intra/inter-firm trade and the geography of export destination impact this decision.This book is a valuable resource for international finance researchers and political economists wishing to discover up-to-date information regarding currency invoicing by multinational firms. It will also be a vital tool for financial and governmental practitioners to discover more about their competitors’ behaviour.

Japan’s dramatic transformation from economic success to economic stagnation offers important policy lessons to advanced countries everywhere that are struggling with stagnation. The term '‘Japanization'’ is often used by economists to describe long-term stagnation and deflation. Symptoms include high unemployment, weak economic activity, interest rates near zero, quantitative easing and population aging. In the global context, what can governments do to mitigate the downward trends experienced by Japan? This judicious volume investigates in depth the causes of Japan’s ‘lost decades’ versus the real recovery achieved by the United States, and the lessons that can be learned.This book helps to provide a basis for assessing a wide range of policy approaches from which policymakers and governments can choose to avoid economic decline. The expert contributions provide an overview of the pattern of '‘Japanization'’ in a global economic perspective, analyze similarities and differences between the Korean and Japanese economies, and examine policies taken by Japan during the lost decades. From this analysis, the book proposes future policy solutions for countries experiencing ‘'Japanization'’.Economic stagnation and the relevant policy reactions have been of keen interest around the globe since the global financial crisis and this book will be an invaluable resource for scholars, policymakers, and economic commentators alike.Contributors include: D. Cho, M. Fukao, K. Ito, T. Ito, D. Jeong, K.-C. Jung, S.T. Kim, Y.G. Kim, K. Kwon, A. Mason, J. Oh, I. Saito, J. Schiff, I. Song

This book contends that the East Asian financial constitution lacks an appropriate infrastructure, resulting in inefficient allocation of high savings and an over-inflated short-term debt market. It goes on to point out that despite high savings, East Asia's dependency on financial centers outside the region is also relatively high, and that there is no strong region-wide network to connect various financial centers in East Asia.Against this economic background, the contributors make recommendations for the establishment of effective and stable capital recycling in East Asia. The financial intermediary function of the regional financial centers - Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo - is evaluated. Discussion focusses on the issues of building an organic network between the financial markets of major economies in the region and enhancing the future role and function of those regional financial centres. The policy implications of the future development of regional financial markets - based on regional financial networks - that could potentially act as intermediaries between the high savings and productive sectors in East Asia are also examined.Concentrating on the major issues identified as central to building a new financial market structure in East Asia, this book will be appeal to those with a special interest in Asian studies and financial economics.