Border Barriers in Agricultural Trade and the Impact of their Elimination: Evidence from East Asia

Abstract: By means of a GTAP based-CGE model, we investigate the impact of the elimination of import tariffs and non-tariff policy barriers (NTPBs) on agricultural trade towards East Asian FTAs. To do that, we first measure the NTPBs by employing a widely-used method derived from the literature on border effects. Next, by adding into the GTAP database our estimates on the NTPBs, which the original GTAP database by its nature does not succeed in incorporating, we compute the impact of the entire elimination of policy barriers (the complete reduction of import tariffs and of NTPBs) on GDP.

Chapter 4 The Challenges in Developing Realistic NEG Simulation Models for East Asia

This chapter attempts to identify some important issues in developing realistic simulation models based on new economic geography, and it suggests a direction for solving the difficulties. Specifically, adopting the IDE Geographical Simulation Model (IDE-GSM) as an example, we discuss some problems in developing a realistic simulation model for East Asia. The first and largest problem in this region is the lack of reliable economic datasets at the sub-national level, and this issue needs to be resolved in the long term. However, to deal with the existing situation in the short term, we utilize some techniques to produce more realistic and reliable simulation models. One key compromise is to use a 'topology' representation of geography, rather than a 'mesh' or 'grid' representation or simple 'straight lines' connecting each city which are used in many other models. In addition to this, a modal choice model that takes into consideration both money and time costs seems to work well.

Innovation networks in China, Japan, and Korea : evidence from Japanese patent data

The growing importance of innovation in economic growth has encouraged the development of innovation capabilities in East Asia, within which China, Japan, and Korea are most important in terms of technological capabilities. Using Japanese patent data, we examine how knowledge networks have developed among these countries. We find that Japan's technological specialization saw little change, but those of Korea and China changed rapidly since 1970s. By the year 2009, technology specialization has become similar across three countries in the sense that the common field of prominent technology is "electronic circuits and communication technologies". Patent citations suggest that technology flows were largest in the electronic technology, pointing to the deepening of innovation networks in these countries.

Innovation networks in China, Japan, and Korea : further evidence from U.S. patent data

The growing importance of innovation in economic growth has encouraged the development of innovation capabilities in East Asia, within which China, Japan, and Korea are most important in terms of technological capabilities. Using U.S. patent data, we examine how knowledge networks have developed among these countries. We find that Japan's technological specialization saw gradual changes, but those of Korea and China changed rapidly since 1970s. By the year 2009, technology specialization has become similar across three countries in the sense that the common fields of prominent technology are electronics and semiconductors. Patent citations suggest that technology flows were largest in the electronics technology, pointing to the deepening of innovation networks in these countries. Together with our prior work, the Japanese and U.S. data produce similar conclusions about innovation networks.

Grain yield of direct seeded and transplanted rice in rainfed lowlands of South East Asia

The mean grain yield of 81 direct seeded (DS) and 91 transplanted (TP) environments that were conducted as part of 3 ACIAR projects over 11 years, from 1992-2002, in Laos, Thailand and Cambodia were examined. The average yield of TP rice was 6% greater than DS rice. A subset of 27 pairs of DS and TP environments was examined and results indicated a significant positive correlation between the DS and TP establishment methods for mean grain yield with only a 3% difference in overall performance. The performance of 3 genotypes in 3 locations in Laos in 1996 was also examined. Results indicated a highly significant positive correlation between the performance of genotypes in DS and TP experiments in which TP rice had a 30% yield advantage over DS rice. This particular experiment highlights the need for good management practices when DS establishment methods are utilised. Results of this paper indicate that DS and TP rice will produce a similar yield for a given environment provided that they are grown utilising good management practices.