Abstract: "Some ASEAN nations are experiencing a rapid proliferation of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Regional Trade Arrangements (RTAs). These FTAs and RTAs are creating a potentially confusing "noodle bowl" scenario. Therefore, their economic effects need to be estimated by rigorous impact assessments. They particularly need to be evaluated as a testing ground for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) that came into effect in 2015. However, discovering and understanding appropriate models for impact assessment is not a straightforward problem. Developed countries usually use Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Models and Gravity Models to estimate the future or past economic effects of FTAs and RTAs. These models assume a stable market economy with prices set by the equilibrium between supply and demand. However, some ASEAN countries, including Vietnam, are still in transition to market economies. For such economies, we argue that CGEs must be supplemented by Input-Output Models, which do not require this assumption. In addition, because CGE models are sensitive to missing or incorrect data, it is difficult to find enough reliable data to construct a CGE or Partial CGE Model for some ASEAN countries. This thesis investigates two research questions on estimating the economic effects of an FTA or RTA on a developing country."

This publication displays the menu for choice of available methods to evaluate the impact of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). It caters mainly to policy makers from developing countries and aims to equip them with some economic knowledge and techniques that will enable them to conduct their own economic evaluation studies on existing or future FTAs, or to critically re-examine the results of impact assessment studies conducted by others, at the very least.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is strategically significant because of its size, dynamism, and role in the Asian economic and security architectures. This paper examines how ASEAN seeks to strengthen these assets through "centrality" in intraregional and external policy decisions. It recommends a two-speed approach toward centrality in order to maximize regional incomes and benefit all member economies: first, selective engagement by ASEAN members in productive external partnerships and, second, vigorous policies to share gains across the region. This strategy has solid underpinnings in the Kemp-Wan theorem on trade agreements. It would warrant, for example, a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement with incomplete ASEAN membership, complemented with policies to extend gains across the region. The United States could support this framework by pursuing deep relations with some ASEAN members, while broadly assisting the region's development.

Scientific Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Economics - Foreign Trade Theory, Trade Policy, grade: 97.5%, Ottawa University, course: Multinational Business Policy, language: English, abstract: Stemming from the ongoing globalization, the process of global integration and international trade has accelerated ever since. Where back in the days the trade was more or less bounded to inter-regional trade with customers, partners and countries in close proximity, nowadays goods are shipped throughout the world, costs of transportation have decreased, time to market has increased and thus the needs and desires can be served almost instantly throughout the world particularly because of the continuous support of the WTO, where “a plethora of bilateral and regional trading and economic cooperation agreements have been mushrooming globally, and increasingly in the Asia-Pacific, generating a wave of “new regionalism” in Asia” (Sen; Srivastava 2009: 194). Concerned by the Asian financial crisis in 1997-1998, the ASEAN countries were under the impression of a slowdown in pace of trade liberalization and thus this put pressure on these countries to engage sustainably in mutual beneficial trade and economic integration. By that, “at a theoretical level regional economic integration is being taken to mean deepening of intra-regional trade, expansion of mutual foreign direct investment (FDI) and harmonization of commercial regulations, standards and practices.” (Ekanayake; Veeramacheneni 2009: 2). This proceeding integration in ASEAN has mainly been motivated by the intention to create an attractive production base and to satisfy the rising competitive challenge on the part of China and India for both, domestic and foreign companies. (Hew; Sen 2004: 1-2). The impact especially of the ASEAN countries has raised over time, mainly in comparison to the OECD countries. “At the same time that developing Asia‟s share in ASEAN trade has been rising substantially (from about one-third to nearly one-half of total ASEAN exports and imports over the 1990-2004 period), the share of major OECD countries has fallen commensurately.” (Naya; Plummer 2006: 231). As a reason for that “both trade and financial liberalization are believed to have propelled faster the long-run economic growth of the East Asian economies.” (Masron; Yusop 2008: 292).

"Paper originally presented at the ASEAN Roundtable on ASEAN Economic Co-operatiopn in the 1990's", jointly organized by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) and the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in Singapore, 27-28 June 1991"--Acknowledgements.

The decision to establish the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) was initially met with widespread enthusiasm. Some of this enthusiasm has since dissipated as all countries except Singapore have voiced concerns regarding the ability of sensitive industries to compete in the new protection-free environment. Underlying these concerns is the view that the evolving pattern of trade will be more complementary, or that inter-industry of net trade will dominate intra-industry trade. This study employs a new methodology to analyse the dynamics of trade in the ASEAN countries as they approach the deadline of AFTA, with a view to identify likely adjustment costs associated with liberalizing their trade.