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We examine the effect of a place-based policy in China, the Northeastern Revitalization Program. In 2003 the State Council of the People's Republic of China initiated the program in northeastern China by removing an agricultural tax, enhancing the urban social security system, facilitating foreign investment, and restructuring state-owned enterprises in the region. Using the synthetic control method, we find that the program had no significant effect on GDP per capita in all three regions. Liaoning had slightly worse GDP per capita post-treatment, as did Heilongjiang (albeit to a lesser extent). While the multiple synthetic control analysis shows that economic outcomes were worse post-treatment, the impact of this program was heterogeneous across the three regions. We argue the lackluster performance likely comes from the continuing dominance of inefficient state-owned enterprises in the provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the macroeconomic structure of SAARC countries, i.e. Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It also explores the possibility of trade expansion among these countries by examining the macro-economic and regional trade link models based on time series data of 28 years. The study finds that there are inter-country differences in production and consumption patterns, investment behaviour, tax and non-tax structures in the SAARC countries. Hence, there is considerable scope for trade expansion among the SAARC countries. The study also confirms that aggregate regional consumption and regional GNP increase significantly with the increase of aggregate regional trade, and the consumption and income elasticities are 1.70 and 1.61 respectively. The study also exhibits that the GNP of Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with limited exceptions, are significantly increased with the increase of their exports to the region. So these countries would definitely benefit from the regional trade expansion. The same may be true for India if the smuggled trade is prevented or reduced, and true economic factors, keeping aside political conflicts, dominate for regional trade policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main initiatives for regional economic integration and cooperation in Southeast Asia is the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS), which involves Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China's Yunnan Province. Our paper provides an overview of major recent developments in the GMS initiative. In particular, we explore the impact of the Asian financial crisis and the economic role of Thailand within the group. Being the largest and most market-oriented economy, Thailand is a natural leader of the GMS. We conclude with a discussion of the GMS initiative's prospects in the aftermath of the Asian crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new multilateralist framework for the analysis of interregionalism is assessed. The value of a culturally pluralist and ethically informed 'bottom-up' alternative to the currently hegemonic 'top-down' system shaped by globalization is affirmed. However, it is argued that a thorough critique of existing capitalist institutions must precede any attempt to devise an alternative approach, and a new materialist alternative to the new multilateralism is advanced. Attention is drawn both to the changing role of the ASEM process in interregional politics, and the extent to which it functions as an auxiliary means of imposing at domestic level the disciplines identified by national regional managers as crucial to continued capitalist accumulation. ASEM is then analysed, following Cox, as a 'problem-solving' institution intended to resolve some of the tensions inherent in regional and global capitalism. This involves identifying aspects of the ASEM process aimed at smoothing contradictions between national and interregional capitalist interests, and suggests that 'problem-solving' requires both innovation and critical analysis. It is further suggested that the ASEM process is exploited by stare leaders to reinforce the power of capital over labour in each region. In conclusion, the implications are considered for the generation of a strategic counter-hegemonic programme which combines a common resistance to capital with a potential for sustaining a plurality of emancipatory movements with different ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]