How International Economic Links Affect East Asia

An anatomy of economic links between East Asia and the global economy-- and a description of how those links shape the region's exposure to risks from the global economy.

While, over the last 30 years, the global economy's center of gravity has shifted to East Asia, the region has remained surprisingly free of interstate military conflict. Yet this era of peace and growth has been punctuated by periodic reminders of enduring security problems in the region—from China's military modernization, to unresolved territorial disputes, to persistent tensions on the Korean peninsula. This volume is one of the first to treat these issues of economics and security as interconnected rather than separate. Its authors—leading scholars from the U.S. and China—shed new light on this important nexus by applying insights from a rich variety of approaches to explore and explain the dynamics of a region whose importance for students of both international political economy and international security has grown dramatically. They show that both economic and security 'fundamentals' matter if one is to understand the reasons for, and evaluate the durability of, East Asia's recent peace and prosperity.

Global Production and Trade in East Asia focuses on the profound change that the traditional paradigm of production and international trade has undergone in the last two decades or so as a result of worldwide trade and investment liberalization. This ongoing transformation has been both aided and stimulated by advances in telecommunications, transportation, and information management. The liberalization of trade and investment on the one hand and advances in communications technology on the other have further promoted global production networks in which vertical stages of final goods are fragmented across countries. International fragmentation of production, which enables international division of labor not only in final products but also in vertically related components, is more evident than ever before. The book documents the process of international production fragmentation and trade in East Asian economies, studies the mechanics of the process, explores the theory behind the phenomenon, and identifies important policy implications. It focuses on production fragmentation and trade in East Asia because this is the part of the world where the phenomenon is most visible. With contribution by well-known international economics scholars from North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific, the book distinguishes itself with high global quality and rich regional content. It achieves a fine balance between theory, policy, and empirical work. This book will interest scholars of international trade, foreign investment and international business, regional specialists in East Asian economies, policymakers and advisors in international economic relations, and anyone else who follows important economic issues of globalization.

The world has undergone significant change since the end of the Cold War. One such development is that the Asia-Pacific has become increasingly prominent in international affairs. This comprehensive study provides a detailed understanding of key issues, actors and future trends in the region.

This text analyses the economic relationship that has evolved between the European Union and East Asia, and its future prospects, especially in the wake of the financial crisis that shook East Asia.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, leading industrialized countries have managed to show only a gradual recovery, while East Asian economies have surged ahead. In particular, China achieved growth in excess of 10% in 2010 and is expected to continue growing at a rapid pace. It appears that in the coming years, East Asia will play an even greater role as a growth center leading global economic expansion. Following the Asian currency crisis of 1997OCo98, consumption and investment in the region decreased considerably, and East Asian economies recovered on the strength of exports. Presently, however, amid a less-than-robust recovery in the US and Europe, the sustainability of East Asia''s reliance on export-led growth has been called into question. The region''s transition to growth based on a balance of foreign and domestic demand is important for both building a stronger foundation for sustainable growth and buttressing global economic expansion. Moreover, the rebalancing of demand in East Asia holds the key to rectifying global current account imbalances OCo the disadvantage of uneven international capital flows. This unique volume illuminates policy issues involved in the efforts to promote the rebalancing of demand in East Asia.

Global supply chains connect the world in unprecedented and intricate ways. Geopolitics, Supply Chains, and International Relations in East Asia dissects the sources and effects of contemporary disruptions of these networks. Despite their dramatic expansion as distinct, complex, and unique mechanisms of economic interdependence, the role of supply chains in broader patterns of interstate conflict and cooperation has been relatively neglected. This volume sheds light on whether a highly interdependent “Factory Asia” and Asia-Pacific can withstand geopolitical, geo-economic, and pandemic threats. This combustible mix, fueled by rising hyper-nationalism in the US and China, threatens to unleash sizable disruptions in the global geography of production and in the international relations of East Asia.

The economic success achieved in the last decade in East Asia has brought about a fundamental reorientation in the Western view of the region. In order to contribute to a better understanding of present events and future developments in the area, leading East Asia economists and men of experience in Asian business from Asia, America, and East and West Europe have written papers on their research or business fields for this volume. The individual articles deal with problems common to the East Asian region and the Pacific area as well as with specific economic problems of Japan, China and South Korea. The volume is divided into four parts: East Asia and the Pacific Basin includes articles on supra-national issues, for example on the international economic relations of Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea. Japan includes articles on Japanese industrial and business structure, technological policy, exports and other issues. China includes articles on structural change, economic reforms, fiscal policy, agriculture and other issues. Korea includes articles on economic and industrial policy, restructuring, protectionism and other issues. The occasion of the publication of this volume is the 70th birthday of Willy Kraus, who for many years has been actively concerned with the questions of development in the East Asian region.