Infrastructure S Role In Lowering Asia S Trade Costs

Much of the analysis of infrastructure's impact on trade costs focuses on conditions in developed countries. This book makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding by examining the situation in developing Asia, the world's most populous and fastest growing region. This study analyzes and draws policy implications from infrastructure's central role in lowering Asia's trade costs. Infrastructure is shown to be a cost-effective means of lowering trade costs and thereby promoting regional growth and integration. This book combines thematic and country studies, while breaking new ground in.

. . . this is a timely and useful collection of regional studies. Ben Shepherd, Asian Pacific Economic Literature Analysis of infrastructure s role in facilitating international trade and consequently regional economic integration is still rudimentary. This original book fills that knowledge gap by exploring relevant concepts, measurement issues, aspects of the implementation of trade-related infrastructure facilities and their impacts on poverty, trade, investment and macroeconomic balances. Continuing the series of books produced in association with the Asian Development Bank Institute, this study explores the virtuous cycle of infrastructure investment, trade expansion and economic growth in developing Asia. Issues relating infrastructure, both hard and soft, to trade facilitation and trade costs are defined and examined, and the role of infrastructure in regional cooperation to enhance intraregional trade is analysed. Empirical estimates of trade costs in Asia suggest there is significant room for infrastructure to lower those costs further. By approaching the infrastructure trade nexus at the regional level through cooperative activities, this study shows it is possible to increase the range of policy options and risk management opportunities. Infrastructure and Trade in Asia will be of interest to trade and infrastructure policymakers, academics at graduate and above levels involved in economic development and Asian studies as well as those in the development community interested in regional cooperation and integration.

This report highlights emerging trends in Aid for Trade (AfT) and trade performance, and explores them in the context of the theme of the 5th Global Review of AfT: "Reducing Trade Costs for Inclusive, Sustainable Growth." Divided into four chapters, the introduction sets the stage by describing general trends in trade costs, AfT, and inclusiveness; Chapter 2 introduces the idea and opportunities of e-commerce for the region; Chapter 3 analyzes trends in trade costs in Central, East, South, and Southeast Asia; and Chapter 4 offers an in-depth case study of AfT and trade costs in the Pacific.

This publication evaluates the current level of trade costs in the Asia-Pacific region and outlines recent evidence with regard to the impacts of various trade facilitation measures in reducing trade costs. Part I provides an overview of trade costs in Asia and the Pacific, based on the most recent update of the ESCAP-World Bank Trade Cost Database. Policies and factors affecting international trade costs are identified. Key findings and implications from a micro-level analysis of trade procedures in a wide range of Asia-Pacific developing economies are presented. Highlights and recommendations from some of the most recent ESCAP studies on trade facilitation and trade costs in Asia-Pacific are also summarized. Part II features abbreviated versions of five individual ESCAP studies summarized in Part I

"What effect does distance have on costs for economies at different locations? Exports and imports of final and intermediate goods bear transport costs that increase with distance. Production and trade depend on factor endowments and factor intensities as well as on distance and the transport intensities of different goods"--Cover.

Abstract: The authors show in this paper that increasing the transparency of the trading environment can be an important complement to traditional liberalization of tariff and non-tariff barriers. Our definition of transparency is grounded in a transaction cost analysis. The authors focus on two dimensions of transparency: predictability (reducing the cost of uncertainty) and simplification (reducing information costs). Using the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies as a case study, the authors construct indices of importer and exporter transparency for the region from a wide range of sources. Our results from a gravity model suggest that improving trade-related transparency in APEC could hold significant benefits by raising intra-APEC trade by proximately USD 148 billion or 7.5 pecent of baseline trade in the region.

This publication summarizes the papers and presentations in Workshops on Economics of Infrastructure in a Globalized World, funded by the Asian Development Bank through a regional technical assistance project. The discussions at the conferences focused on three themes: (i) the role of infrastructure in supporting inclusive growth and poverty reduction; (ii) the need for appropriate soft infrastructure, including the policy environment and regulatory institutions; and (iii) the potential for public and private partnerships in infrastructure provision. Each theme elaborates the premise that extensive, efficient infrastructure services are essential drivers of economic growth and sustainable poverty reduction.

The book provides a detailed analysis of the causes of West Africa’s current economic high-growth episode and proposes ways to extend it sustainably. It examines the potential role of regional integration through the establishment of a common currency union and of other policy options that can enhance economic growth. The authors suggest appropriate methods of coordination between macroeconomic policy and industrialization to achieve higher economic growth and also examine why pro-poor strategies have not been successful. The book underscores the challenges and opportunities that will arise from the structural change to the region’s economies resulting from the necessary investment in manufacturing exports, ICT and infrastructure, which are key vehicles for extended growth. Readers will learn how the region can better reach its developmental goals by securing and perpetuating political liberty and transactional freedom for all its citizens.