East Asia

About: East Asia is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 17591 publications have been published within this topic receiving 274073 citations. The topic is also known as: Eastern Asia.

ASEAN and China: Export Rivals or Partners in Regional Growth?

Abstract: HINA’S initial opening to the world economy in the late 1980s followed by its relatively rapid trade liberalisation in the second half of the 1990s and its recent WTO accession has prompted extensive debate amongst the policy community in many countries. 1� Governments of the ASEAN group in particular have been extremely concerned at the prospect of FDI diversion and the loss of export market share in OECD economies to China. This paper summarises detailed empirical research by the authors intended to strengthen the basis of evidence on the important issue of export rivalry. In particular, we seek to elucidate the underlying properties of comparative advantage and export competition in the countries concerned, synthesising detailed trade flow and econometric analysis. Our econometric results indicate that, in the short run at least, ASEAN and China are experiencing intensified export competition in prominent third markets such as Japan and the US. More extensive trade flow analysis reveals, however, that in the long run globalisation can accommodate export growth by all the economies of East Asia, if aggregate growth can be sustained to facilitate the structural adjustments necessary for an optimal regional division of labour. More specifically, the path forward is not without potential rivalry, but wellinformed policy makers can anticipate emergent challenges and take the steps necessary to mitigate adjustment costs and promote longer-term efficiency. Whatever the ultimate course of development in East Asia, it is clear that the forces at work are complex and in many cases unprecedented. Policy makers relying on

Large‐scale phytogeographical patterns in East Asia in relation to latitudinal and climatic gradients

Abstract: Aim This paper aims at determining how different floristic elements (e.g. cosmopolitan, tropical, and temperate) change with latitude and major climate factors, and how latitude affects the floristic relationships between East Asia and the other parts of the world. Location East Asia from the Arctic to tropical regions, an area crossing over 50� of latitudes and covering the eastern part of China, Korea, Japan and the eastern part of Russia. Methods East Asia is divided into forty-five geographical regions. Based on the similarity of their world-wide distributional patterns, a total of 2808 indigenous genera of seed plants found in East Asia were grouped into fourteen geographical elements, belonging to three major categories (cosmopolitan, tropical and temperate). The 50� -long latitudinal gradient of East Asia was divided into five latitudinal zones, each of c. 10� . Phytogeographical relationships of East Asia to latitude and climatic variables were examined based on the forty-five regional floras. Results Among all geographical and climatic variables considered, latitude showed the strongest relationship to phytogeographical composition. Tropical genera (with pantropical, amphi-Pacific tropical, palaeotropical, tropical Asia‐tropical Australia, tropical Asia‐tropical Africa and tropical Asia geographical elements combined) accounted for c. 80% of the total genera at latitude 20� N and for c. 0% at latitude 55‐60� N. In contrast, temperate genera (including holarctic, eastern Asia‐North America, temperate Eurasia, temperate Asia, Mediterranean, western Asia to central Asia, central Asia and eastern Asia geographical elements) accounted for 15.5% in the southernmost latitude and for 80% at 55‐60� N, from where northward the percentage tended to level off. The proportion of cosmopolitan genera increased gradually with latitude from 5% at the southernmost latitude to 21% at 55‐60� N, where it levelled off northward. In general, the genera present in a more northerly flora are a subset of the genera present in a more southerly flora. Main conclusions The large-scale patterns of phytogeography in East Asia are strongly related to latitude, which covaries with several climatic variables such as temperature. Evolutionary processes such as the adaptation of plants to cold climates and current and past land connections are likely responsible for the observed latitudinal patterns.

"Fragmentation in East Asia: Further Evidence"

Abstract: The most salient phenomenon in recent international trade in East Asia is the formation of international production/distribution networks. This paper applies the two-dimensional fragmentation framework (Kimura and Ando (2005a)) to investigate the structure and characteristics of international production/distribution networks. Two important issues are investigated. The one is how the formation of international production/distribution networks, particularly in machinery industries, has changed the overall pattern in East Asian trade, both intra-regional and inter-regional. We find that about half of intra-regional export expansion in East Asian countries in 1990-2003 is due to an increase in trade of machinery parts and components, which suggests the existence of a large "magnification" effect in intra-regional trade volumes. The relative importance of markets outside East Asia, notably North American and EU markets, seems rather to decline a bit due to the expansion of East Asian markets themselves. The other issue is how corporate firms effectively combine two kinds of fragmentation, i.e., fragmentation in terms of geographical distance and disintegration. The statistical data of affiliates of Japanese firms in East Asia indicate that transactions with Japan are likely to be intra-firm, while transactions in local markets tend to be arm's-length (inter-firm), which is consistent with our analytical framework which explains the close link between geographical proximity and outsourcing. �

Talking to the Enemy: Track Two Diplomacy in the Middle East and South Asia

Abstract: This monograph examines security-related track two diplomacy efforts in the Middle East and South Asia, including how such efforts have socialized participants into thinking about security in more cooperative terms, and whether the ideas generated in track two forums have been acknowledged at the societal level or influenced official policy. Kaye concludes with suggestions on how to improve future track two efforts.

Resource Endowments and Agricultural Development: Africa versus Asia

Abstract: This chapter aims to examine the sources of agricultural stagnation/ deterioration in Sub-Saharan Africa by contrasting it with the agricultural growth experience in Asia, and East Asia in particular. An important and well-documented feature of the East Asian model of economic development is the considerable success of the countries concerned in expanding their agricultural sector. This success enabled them to provide more or less regular employment to a growing rural population before urban industrialization was advanced enough to absorb large numbers of workers (Fei, Ranis and Kuo, 1979; Morley, 1982, ch. 11). In the case of some countries (most notably, Japan and Taiwan), expansion of rural employment opportunities and incomes was greatly helped by a decentralized pattern of industrialization that resulted in the development of numerous rural industries (Smith, 1959; Ho, 1979). Moreover, since food supply increased rapidly, instead of being diverted to food imports, foreign exchange earnings could be reserved for importing capital and intermediate goods needed by modern industries.