ASEAN: economic integration and intra-regional trade

Abstract

The study shed some light on the economic integration and intra-regional trade in the ASEAN countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Towards this goal, a gravity model is estimated for each of the five ASEAN countries based on the data from 1980 to 1995. Analysis reveals that the trade in ASEAN countries increases with the size of the economy. The ASEAN integration scheme did not increase intra-ASEAN trade, but an increase in trade occurred with members of a wider APEC group.