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Publications
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To search ARTNeT members trade publications
and that of other relevant organizations and partners,
please go to the ARNeT
Trade Publication database.
• ARTNeT
Publication Series
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Policy Brief
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Working Paper Series
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Books and research reports
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ESCAP (2012) "The Gravity Model of International Trade: A User Guide"
This User Guide provides a “hands-on” introduction to gravity modeling for applied policy researchers. It is designed to be used in conjunction with a dataset of bilateral trade in services available for free download, and readers are encouraged to replicate the results presented here using the Stata code provided in the text. Although some basic knowledge of Stata is required as a pre-requisite, more advanced commands and techniques are introduced in the text as necessary. Once the basic techniques have been mastered, readers are encouraged to extend the results presented here using alternative specifications and methodologies.
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ESCAP (2011) "Trade-led growth: A sound strategy for Asia"
The 2008/9 global economic crisis triggered changes in real economies and trade in all countries, including those in Asia, which adopted the so-called export-led growth model. With these drastic changes in trade flows, and the need to counteract potential adverse effects, the old debate on the advantages and flaws of the export-led model has re-opened, adding new concerns to the debate such as aspects of sustainability and inclusivity. The Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade organized a conference in November 2009 on the topic and brought together policymakers, researchers and analysts from the region and outside it. The selection of the papers discussed at the conference is presented in this volume. It aims to provide some theoretical and empirical reasons towards an argument that for developing Asian economies, export-led growth is still a valid model of stable, equitable and sustainable growth. The volume provides a balanced assessment of the role of trade in growth and development. It also combines local (regional) research with that of established experts/institutions. While there is extensive literature focusing on the role of openness and trade in a country’s development, much of it dates to before the most recent (2008-2009) global crisis. Furthermore, the volumes that were published during the crisis mostly argued against an export-led growth strategy, while this volume argues in defense of trade-led growth for the Asian region.
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ESCAP (2011) "India: A New Player in Asian Production Networks", United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
This volume is a contribution to several issues of major policy and academic interest in Asia: the role, importance and implications of in the global economy, why India (and South Asia more generally) is lagging behind East Asia in participation of International production networks (IPNs) and, whether the situation will change as rising real wages in East Asia provide an opportunity for India and other South Asian economies to leverage their labour cost. Chapter I-IV include substantive study of these issues, comparative overview of Asian IPNs landscape, insightful background aimed at understanding the issues involved MNCs and case studies of sectors illustrating the potentially successful example of India as an important regional player in Asian IPNs. Chapter V specifically emphasizes India’s initiatives towards entering into PTAs with East and South-East Asian countries, while Chapter VI synthesizes the findings and key messages emerging from this study and presents policy recommendations with regard to fostering IPN participation by countries that are still lagging behind.
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ESCAP (2011) "Service Sector Reforms: Asia-Pacific Perspectives", United Nations, New York
As the largest sector in many middle-income and developed economies that holds the key to increased productivity and dynamic growth, services remains a challenge, particularly in terms of the impact of services liberalization on development. The reform of service sectors and their link to equity and increased access have not been explored widely enough to be able to explain the importance of services trade and service sector liberalization to ordinary citizens. By organizing a conference on “Reforming Services for Inclusive and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific,” the ADB Institute and its partners, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), hoped to make a contribution to the discussion about how services sector reforms have benefited the poor, and more generally, how regulatory reforms in services have increased the opportunities for more inclusive growth. The first version of most of the papers included in this volume were presented at the “Reforming services for inclusive and sustainable development of Asia and the Pacific” conference organized by ADBI and ARTNeT in Bali, Indonesia on 10-12 October 2010.
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ESCAP (2011), "Fighting Irrelevance: The Role of Regional Trade Agreements in International Production Networks", United Nations, New York
This study explored the linkages between existing regional trade agreements (RTAs) and international production networks (IPNs) in the region. It focused on three sectors in five Asian countries - automotive, textiles and clothing, and electronics - which have proven to be fruitful areas for the establishment of IPNs in a number of countries in Asia during the past several decades. What distinguishes this study from similar studies is its reliance on primary data and information collected through interviews and focus group discussions. While study revealed that based on the perception of the respondents in the five selected countries, formal RTAs were not considered a major driving force in strengthening IPNs, the RTAs were found as bringing about some positive developments in the strengthening of the IPNs. For example, the India-Thailand Free Trade Agreement eased trade in automotive parts and components between the two countries. The survey of the hard disk drive industry in Thailand suggests the co-existence of IPNs and industrial clustering.
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ESCAP (2010), "Rising Non-tafiff Protectionism and Crisis Recovery", United Nations, New York
Most papers in this volume are a result from the Research Workshop "Rising non-tariff protectionism and crisis recovery" which was held on 14 and 15 December 2009 as part of the MARKHUB workshop series and was organized by secretariats of ESCAP, UNCTAD and WTO. MARKHUB research workshops were the main modality of the Macao Regional Knowledge Hub project funded by the Government of Macao, China and implemented by the Trade and Investment Division of ESCAP from 2006 to 2010. To improve in regional knowledge sharing, the project also issued a number of collected volumes of papers presented in these workshops. This volume includes nine chapters; some were written specifically for the workshop, while some resulted from the ongoing research on broader topics. While these chapters do not exhaust all relevant questions on non-tariff protectionism, they provide a good inroad into the problem and they confirm once again that despite the popularity of non-tariff protection among policymakers, this area is under-researched, in terms of the quality and quantity of data, as well as the assessment of impacts. The old areas where non-tariff protectionism has been used to limit trade are now being enriched by new instruments (mostly belonging to 'behind-the-border' types) and also targeting new linkages of trade such as climate change, environmental protection, labour standards, or protection of the public in a variety of areas (health, public morals, etc.). Contributors to this volume are Mitsuyo Ando, Sudip Ranjan Basu, Yann L. Duval, Simon Evenett, Michael Ferrantino, Hiroaki Kuwahara, Mia Mikic, Martin Molinuevo, Swapna Nair, Ayako Obashi, Rajan Sudesh Ratna, Benjamin Shepherd, Tulus T.H. Tambunan, Chorthip Utoktham, and Martin Wermelinger.
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ESCAP (2007), "Trade facilitation beyond the multilateral trade negotiations: regional practices, customs valuation and other emerging issues - a study by the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade", United Nations, New York.
This book, published by ESCAP in cooperation with UNDP, features the main research outputs of ARTNeT between April 2006 and January 2007 on trade facilitation (TF) . Issues covered include TF in preferential trade agreements, rules of origins, customs valuation, comparative TF needs and priorities in selected countries, TF and liberalization of logistics services, and the effect of trade costs on trade flows. Overall, the book suggests that policymakers should look beyond the narrow agenda of the multilateral trade negotiations on TF to develop comprehensive TF strategies that best meet their needs. |
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ESCAP (2007), "Towards coherent policy frameworks: Understanding trade and investment linkages", Trade and Investment Studies, No. 62, United Nations, New York.
This book features a selection of ARTNeT, ESCAP, and UNCTAD papers exploring the linkages between trade and investment. Issues covered include investment provisions and regulation through trade agreements, the need for more coherent and harmonized approaches to the design of rules of origin, the interactions between foreign direct investment and trade flows, and the drivers of outward foreign direct investment from the developing economics in the region. The book also features case studies on the effect of trade and investment liberalization on the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Indonesia, and on trade in education services in Malaysia. |
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ESCAP (2007), "Agricultural trade: Planting the seeds of regional liberalization in Asia - A study by the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade", United Nations, New York.
This publication brings together papers produced by ARTNeT researchers between May 2005 and December 2006, exploring the potential for agricultural trade opportunities at the regional level through preferential trade agreements (PTAs), at a time when the number of PTAs globally and in the ESCAP region has been increasing sharply. The PTAs analyzed in the book are from three subregions: South Asia, East Asia and South-East Asia. Therefore, this volume fills the void that currently exists in quantitative analysis of preferential agricultural trade liberalization in the Asian economies. |
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ESCAP (2006), "An exploration of the need for and cost of selected trade facilitation measures in Asia and the Pacific in the context of the WTO negotiations", Studies in Trade and Investment No. 57, United Nations, New York.
This publication explores the need, priorities and cost of implementation of selected trade facilitation measures in five Asian countries in the context of the WTO negotiations on trade facilitation. It consists of a synthesis of country studies conducted in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Nepal in cooperation with national-level research institutions member of ARTNeT. It contains a detailed and comparative assessment of the trade facilitation situation in these countries, results of private sector surveys on the trade facilitation needs and priorities in each of the countries It also covers the implementation costs and sequencing of twelve trade facilitation measures under consideration by the WTO Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation. |
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