This paper assesses the empirical desirability of the East Asian economies to an alternative exchange rate arrangement (a monetary union) that can potentially enhance the exchange rate stability and credibility in the region. Specifically, the symmetry in macroeconomic disturbances of the East Asian economies is examined as satisfying one of the preconditions for forming an Optimum Currency Are...

Examining the trade prospects for the new European Union (EU) member states and the EU associated partner countries is an important issue in the context of European eastward enlargement and greater economic integration with its immediate neighbours. An out-ofsample approach to projecting trade volumes for twenty countries of interest is adopted using a gravity equation for a panel data set of b...

Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are regarded as primary examples of countries that have derived great benefits from increasing integration with the international economy, without surrendering national autonomy in the economic or cultural spheres, by pursuing decidedly nonneutral policies with respect to the promotion of specific sectors and activities. This working paper addresses a series of qu...

Trade relationships built through production chains appear to be lasting due to relation-specific nature of the transactions, compared with the usual transactions of goods sold on the open market. This paper aims to verify such stability of international production networks at the global level, with special emphasis on intra-East Asian trade. A series of survival analyses provide an evidence su...

After the large exchange rate depreciations following the 1997 East Asian crisis, export volumes from East Asian countries responded with a notable lag. Two main explanations for this lag have been proposed: that the policy of high interest rates limited access to domestic credit and hence limited the supply of exports; and that “competitive depreciation” neutralized the effects on demand for e...

Both the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and the incidence of gastric cancer are high in Bhutan. The high incidence of atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer suggest the phylogeographic origin of an infection with a more virulent strain of H. pylori. More than 90% of Bhutanese strains possessed the highly virulent East Asian-type CagA and all strains had the most virulent type of vac...

This paper analyzes the causes and consequences of the financial crisis in East Asia. We have examined which of the two alternatives--panic or fundamentals--was a crucial feature. While our empirical analysis is inconclusive on the relative importance of the two views, it suggests that the massive inflow of foreign capital into the region during the 1990s was at the center of the East Asian fin...

Real Wage Cyclicality in Germany and the UK: New Results Using Panel Data This paper compares the cyclical behaviour of male real wages in Germany and the UK using the German Socio-Economic Panel 1984-2002 and the British Household Panel Survey 1991-2004. We distinguish between job stayers (remaining in the same job), and withinand between-company job movers. Stayers are the large majority in b...