Current Issues in Economic Integration: Can Asia Inspire the "West"?

The current economic crisis throws into question a number of well-established and received beliefs. In particular, it questions the long-term viability of the decoupling between multinational firms and the banking system, it casts serious doubts on the US dollar-centered monetary system and on the continuation of the US dollar as the unique reserve currency in the future and invites the critical analyst to assess the long-term viability of US-China economic relations based on a US current account deficit absorbed by Chinese financial institutions. It can also be seen as an opportunity for a thorough analysis of the factors explaining the rise of property prices, in particular in fast-growing economies. Given the arbitrage exercised by investors on the different financial, primary commodities and other markets, and given the increasing depletion of fossil fuels, it raises the issue of food security in the long term, puts to the fore the multinational firms from the emerging economies (such as China and India) and it questions the response strategies of multinational firms from the `West' and Japan. Finally, the crisis opens a debate centered on the future stimulating role that the Asian continent could play vis-a-vis `the West', and in particular, vis-a-vis the European Union. This book engages these key current issues in the broad theme of integration.

In the wake of the current global financial crisis this multidisciplinary study examines growing Asian economic integration fuelled increasingly by intra-regional trade and investment and contrasting with the institutional mechanism-led EU. Chapters highlight the paramountcy of China, the source of a potential reserve currency replacing the US dollar. This book will prove an invaluable reference source for policymakers, scholars and business practitioners alike. Robert Taylor, University of Sheffield, UK

Bernadette Andreosso-O'Callaghan, Director, Euro-Asia Centre, Associate Professor (and Jean Monnet Professor of Economics), University of Limerick, Ireland and M. Bruna Zolin, Professor of Economics, University of Ca' Foscari, Italy