Nobuaki Hamaguchi

Intermediate goods and the spatial structure of an economy

Abstract We develop a monopolistic competition model of spatial economy in which manufacturing requires a large variety of intermediate goods. The economy yields two types of monocentric configurations: an integrated city equilibrium ( I-specialized city equilibrium ) when transaction costs of intermediate goods are high (low). In the former, both manufacturing and intermediate sectors agglomerate in a single city. In the latter, the city is specialized in the provision of intermediate goods. When the economy is in an integrated city equilibrium, it is in a primacy trap such that population growth alone never leads to the formation of new cities.

Economic Integration and Regional Disparities in East Asia

Covering a wide range of aspects surrounding economic integration in East Asia, this well-researched text will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students of development studies, regional economics and Asian studies. It will be of particular value to those on courses concerned with economic and regional integration.

Liberalization, Integration, and Industrial Location in Vietnam

Since Doi Moi, the ‘renovation’ economic reform that started in 1986, Vietnam has successfully escaped from the status of being a poverty- stricken country, and now it is considered as one of the fastest growing emerging economies. Vietnam’s GDP almost doubled in the 1990s, and Vietnam’s growth rate has increased even more since the early 2000s. The average annual GDP growth rate between 2000 and 2010 was more than 7.3%, with growth in the industrial sector reaching as high as 10% annually.

China–Latin America Economic Relations in the New Millennium

Relations between China and Latin America have grown rapidly since the beginning of the 21st century. Many countries in the region now enjoy increasing amounts of trade with China. For some, China is a source of foreign investment as well.

Japan’s Internationalization Strategy and Latin America

Japan reinvigorates its engagements in Latin America motivated by the recent good economic conditions. He argues that although Latin America is not the main target of diplomacy and business for Japan, the state of diplomacy and competitiveness in Latin America is the most sensitive indicator of Japanese diplomatic and business strength. He predicts that Japan–Latin America relations will be affected by changing economic diplomacy of the USA and China toward the region and structural transformation of the Japanese economy itself.

Economic Relations Between Korea and Latin America

Geographically, Latin America is the most distant region from Korea. However, economic relations between Korea and Latin America are much closer than what might be expected considering the distance and economic scale of the economies involved.

Estudo da complementaridade do comércio entre o Brasil e o Japão com vistas a um acordo de livre comércio

Complementarity of trade between Brazil and Japan with a view to a free trade agreement. Japan has signed free trade agreements as trade policy since 2002 and three countries have already signed in Latin American. Considering the intention to carry out an agreement with Mercosur, this article aims to analyze the complementarities between Brazil and Japan trade structure by revealed comparative advantages indexes, with World Bank data for the period between 2006 and 2008. The results show a comparative advantage in primary commodities to Brazil and in industrial products to Japan, as well as indicating sectors that may oppose to trade liberalization.

Making Sense of the Timeliness of Transportation in Economic Integration

International trade has grown dramatically since the second half of the 1980s. The trade value in 2005 was 5.5 times larger than in 1985, growing on average by 8.5 per cent per year during this period. The growth of intra-Asia trade was even more dramatic. During the same period, it grew 14.3 per cent annually and the share in the world trade has increased from 2.0 per cent to 6.5 per cent, drawing level with intra-NAFTA trade, while the intra-EU trade share has tended to decline in the long run (Figure 5.1).

The Evolution of Core-Periphery Structure in East Asia

In this chapter, we introduce the perspective of new economic geography (NEG) to the analysis of regional integration in East Asia. Economic development of East Asian countries has been often discussed based on the analogy of the ‘flying-geese’ pattern, related to the trickle-down effect of industrialization from advanced countries to less developed countries, leading to a spatial dispersion. From this perspective, locations of economic activities are determined by a comparison of production cost. The rapid catch-up of China in the 1990s has changed this characterization substantially. It is not only the seemingly unlimited cheap labour but also the quickly growing middle-class consumer market that attracts business as well as all kinds of activities in China. The orderly designed ‘flying-geese’ type of regional division of labour no longer applies as in the traditional form.

Regional Integration in East Asia: Perspectives of Spatial and Neoclassical Economics

Increasing numbers of free trade and economic partnership agreements have been concluded among many countries in East Asia, and economic integration has progressed rapidly on both a de facto and de jure basis. However, as the authors of this book argue, integration may intensify regional inequalities in East Asia and so this process has attracted much attention of late. Will it actually succeed in achieving greater economic growth or will it in fact cause growing regional disparity?