Asia's Infrastructure, Trade Costs and Regional Co-operation: Comments

Date
Jun 2008
This presentation comments on Douglas H. Brooks' paper Asia's infrastructure, trade costs and regional co-operation which discusses topics of trade dynamics within developing Asia. After highlighting Brooks' key points, it covers issues on trade costs, namely, avoidable versus unavoidable "Non-Tariff" trade costs and the reduction of "Non-Tariff" trade costs as a policy objective. Then it presents the implications of a world where each economy achieves "optimal" reductions in "non-tariff" trade costs. This presentation was prepared for the Latin America/Caribbean and Asia/Pacific Economics and Business Association (LAEBA)'s 4th Annual Meeting held in Lima, Peru on June 17th, 2008.