ABSTRACT
Trade has played an important role in the economic development of Southeast Asia over past decades. In this volume, in Chapter 7 Athukorala and Kohpaiboon analyze Southeast Asia’s engagement in global production networks and implications for industrialization. They conclude that global production sharing – particularly trade in parts and components – has become a fundamental part of Southeast Asia’s trade pattern and facilitated the process of industrialization. Interestingly, Athukorala and Kohpaiboon conclude by suggesting that the relationship between global production networks and trade policy is a topic for future research. In Chapter 17, Hill and Menon describe Southeast Asia’s outward-oriented commercial policy. They argue that Southeast Asian economies have generally adopted more liberal economic policies with increasingly decisive unilateral liberalization. Alongside such reforms, they mention that Southeast Asia created the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) but that the organization has a mixed record on promoting regional economic integration. One of the negative aspects highlighted by Hill and Menon is the emergence of a complex web of regional trade agreements (RTAs) and trade rules centered on ASEAN.
