EAST ASIA'S DE JURE ECONOMIC INTEGRATION A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL APPROACH

In the literature, economic integration has been studied from many different theoretical and conceptual perspectives. Consequently, a great volume of elaborations dedicated to different aspects of integration, transformation and developmental processes in East Asia and the Pacific was created. However, an in-depth review of the studies on economic integration in East Asia has highlighted certain gaps. Namely, there is a shortage of empirical studies on East Asia’s de jure economic integration embodied by the recent establishment of two regional trade arrangement – RCEP and CPTPP. Their actual and potential impact on East Asian economies have been scarcely and vaguely researched. Hence, this monography aims to fill, at least partially, this gap in literature. The novum of this dissertation is the group of the researched countries – 13 East Asian economies, which constitute one of the greatest FTAs all over the world – RCEP, and which at the same time incorporates the members of ASEAN and CPTPP. These member countries as well as the three regional trading arrangements themselves are thoroughly analysed in terms of international and regional trade, economic growth and income convergence. As the result, it can be assessed whether membership in institutional arrangements for economic integration (ASEAN, CPTPP and RCEP) has a positive impact on the pace of economic growth and the speed of closing the income gap among selected East Asian countries.

List of selected abbreviations INTRODUCTION I ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN EAST ASIA – THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL RATIONALES THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND RATIONALES FOR EAST ASIA’S ECONOMIC INTEGRATION 1.1. Economic integration – terminological and conceptual assumptions 1.2. Rationales for East Asia’s economic integration in the theory of economics 1.3. Empirical rationales for East Asia’s economic integration in the light of research 1.4. Final remarks II EAST ASIA’S DE JURE ECONOMIC INTEGRATION – ANTECEDENTS AND EVOLUTION THE EVOLUTION FROM DE FACTO TO DE JURE ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN EAST ASIA 2.1. Barriers and driving forces of East Asian de jure integration processes 2.2. From de facto to de jure economic integration in East Asia 2.3. Bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific region 2.4. Final remarks III INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN EAST ASIAN TRADING FRAMEWORK 3.1. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) 3.2. Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) 3.3. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) 3.4. Final remarks IV EAST ASIA’S ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND TRADE IN THE CONTEXT OF ASEAN, CPTPP AND RCEP THE SPECIFICITY, DYNAMICS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF EAST ASIAN TRADE 4.1. East Asian countries in world trade: shares, volumes and growth dynamics 4.2. Intra-regional and extra-regional trade in East Asia 4.3. East Asian countries in global value chains (GVCs) 4.4. Final remarks V STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN WORLD TRADE FLOWS IN EAST ASIA 5.1. The geography of trade flows in East Asia 5.2. Trade structure by partner of individual East Asian countries 5.3. The structure of trade flows for world commodities in East Asia 5.4. Commodity trade structure of individual East Asian economies 5.5. Final remarks VI THE EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CHARACTER AND DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL TRADE IN EAST ASIA 6.1. Methodological remarks 6.2. Empirical results 6.2.1. The intensity of the trade exchange 6.2.2. The comparative advantage and export specialisation 6.2.3. The concentration of exports and imports 6.2.4. The complementarity and similarity of trade structures 6.2.5. Intra-industry trade 6.2.6. Openness of the economy 6.3. Final remarks VII EAST ASIA’S ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE CONTEXT OF ASEAN, CPTPP AND RCEP THE EMPIRICAL VERIFICATION OF REAL INCOME CONVERGENCE IN EAST ASIA 7.1. The research method 7.2. The results of the estimations 7.2.1. The absolute (unconditional) β-convergence 7.2.2. The σ-convergence 7.2.3. The γ-convergence 7.3. Final remarks VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS THE EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN EAST ASIA 8.1. The research method and the specificity of variables 8.2. Results of the empirical analysis 8.2.1. The choice of explanatory variables and the estimation of basic models 8.2.2. The estimation of models of economic growth 8.2.3. Alternative models of economic growth 8.2.4. Models of economic growth with binary variables 8.3. Final remarks CONCLUSIONS APPENDIX Bibliography List of figures List of tables