Despite the decision of the WTO members to launch a new round of negotiations at their Doha Ministerial in November 2001, developing countries continue to have very real concerns on a number of key issues. The successful completion of the Doha trade round and the realization of the goals of its Development Agenda represent a major challenge for both the developed and the developing world. The primary aim of this volume is to improve understanding of the issues, the objectives of policy and the options for trade policy reform particularly as they impact on the Asia-Pacific region. A team of authors from developing and developed countries in the Asia-Pacific identify ways in which progress might be made on the key negotiating topics, including market access and related issues in agriculture, non-agriculture merchandise and in trade in services.

Labour Market Reform in China documents and analyses institutional changes in the Chinese labour market over the last twenty-five years, and argues that further reform is necessary if China is to sustain its high growth rates. The book first assesses the problems associated with the pre-reform labour arrangements. It offers an in-depth analysis of the urban labour market and its impact on individual wage determination, ownership structure, labour compensation and labour demand and of social security reform. In its main chapters, the book investigates the impact of rural economic reform on rural labour market. Detailed consideration is given to the rural agricultural labour market, labour arrangement in the rural non-agricultural sector, and the wage gap between the rural agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. Finally, the book examines the phenomenon of rural-urban migration, its impact on rural and urban economic growth, and models its effect on urban employment, unemployment and earnings.

Financial Integration in East Asia, first published in 1999, examines the degree of domestic and financial openness in ten Asian countries (Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand) and the effect financial openness has on the structure of the macroeconomy. After examining the reasons behind the 1997/98 financial crisis, Dr de Brouwer puts these in context by summarising the literature on the costs and benefits of financial reform. He then assesses the information that interest rate parity conditions have for financial openness, and sets out theoretical and empirical models to explore the link between market interest rates and intermediated interest rates on deposits and loans. Financial Integration in East Asia also contains reviews of the literature and regional developments, with clear policy analysis throughout.

There appears to be an increasing trend in worldwide fiscal decentralization. In particular, many developing countries are turning to various forms of fiscal decentralization as an escape from inefficient and ineffective governance, macroeconomic stability, and inadequate growth. Fiscal Decentralization in Developing Countries: An Overview edited by Professors Bird and Vaillancourt and featuring important research from leading scholars assesses the progress, problems and potentials of fiscal decentralization in a variety of developing countries around the world. With rich and varied case-study material from countries as diverse as India, China, Colombia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and South Africa this volume complements neatly the collection Fiscal Aspects of Evolving Federations edited by David Wildasin and also published by Cambridge, which presented theoretical advances in the area of research.

Chinese agriculture has experienced some radical changes over the past twenty years. Following the successful introduction of the household production system in the early 1980s, difficulties were encountered in establishing a unified domestic agricultural market in the later 1980s and 1990s. Through a comprehensive analysis of the changes in the Chinese agricultural institutions between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s, this study attempts to provide some answers to the main questions presently facing the agricultural sector. It focuses on the key elements of the pre-reform agricultural institutions, reviews the ways these institutions were refashioned and assesses the resulting changes in agricultural development. The implications of different policy choices are carefully considered with the assistance of a computable general equilibrium model. The author argues that China should push forward with its market-oriented reform measures and introduce the rigours of international competition into the agricultural sector.

Modern day Malthusians warn that Malthus will ultimately be right: the world will be less and less able to feed itself as populations keep expanding and crop yields seem to have reached a peak. The authors of this volume believe that this pessimism is misplaced, and that there is in fact no worldwide food crisis. On the contrary, they show that the world food situation has improved dramatically over the past three decades: prices of agricultural commodities are at their lowest level in history in real terms and crop output is continuing to rise faster than population. This book provides a much needed and reasoned view on a subject that is too often treated emotionally. The important changes in the international food economy are considered in historical context and provide a basis for projections to 2010. The situation should continue to improve and food should become cheaper than it is today.

The first revolution in the Chinese countryside was the land reform after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The second was decollectivization of agriculture and shift to the household responsibility system as a basis for agricultural production. This set the scene for the freeing of markets for farm products and linking of domestic markets to international markets; this 1996 book explores this third revolution. The first section of this book covers the issues of poverty in China and feeding the population. The second section describes price reforms in agricultural markets in China. The next two parts discuss international and regional issues of China's agricultural economy. Finally, there are contributions on what institutional changes have been associated with the third agricultural revolution. The contributions are from a team of experts on the Chinese economy led by Professor Garnaut.

The changing patterns of production and trade in fibres, textiles and clothing provide a classic case study of the dynamics of our interdependent world economy. For centuries Asia supplied the textile factories of Europe with natural fibres, including silk from East Asia exports virtually no natural fibres and instead is the world's most important exporter of manufactured textile products and chief importer of fibres. New Silk Roads, first published in 1992, demonstrates that despite the import barriers erected by advanced economies, textiles and clothing production continues to serve as an engine of growth for developing economies seeking to export their way out of poverty. This book is based on selected papers given at a conference which discussed East Asia's role in world fibre, textile and clothing markets. It draws on trade and development theory as well as on historical evidence to trace the development of these changing markets, which are now dominated by the newly industrialized economies of Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong and, increasingly, China and Thailand.

This is an account of the 'middleman' role Hong Kong has played in China's Open Door Policy. It explains the paradoxical situation by which Hong Kong's role as intermediary in China's commodity trade is becoming more prominent in spite of the fact that since the development of the Open Door Policy in 1979 China has established many direct diplomatic, commercial and transportation links with the outside world. The book makes an important contribution to understanding China's various phases of economic reform and its interactions with global economic markets. Moreover, its arrival is timely, given the forced isolation of China after the events in Tiananmen Square in June 1989 as well as the fact that few years remain before Hong Kong ceases to be a British colony to become part of China. Dr Sung predicts that China's demands on Hong Kong's capacity as intermediary will increase dramatically when this happens.

This book examines the economic success of the industrializing economies of East Asia. Judged in terms of economic growth, or by a combination of economic and welfare criteria, this group of East Asian countries has established a clear lead over other developing areas of the world. The authors seek to identify the economic policies that have been critical to success. They analyze the varied political backgrounds and cultural heritages which enabled such a disparate group of coountries to choose successful routes to rapid growth. The East Asian countries possess widely divergent endowments of resources, but they face the same international environment as other countries. What has led to their economic achievements? One answer is 'unshackling exports' that most of the Asian countries had shackled in the first place. Other policy strands included political stability, the rule of law and economic policies that distorted prices less than other developing countries. Equally important have been investment in facilities of the social and physical infrastructure. The book's contributors argue that governments thus provided the environment for growth. Private enterprise contributed investment despite risk of uncertainty, and through exposure to international competition became efficient and profitable.