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Using city-level data from China for the period 2003–15, this paper studies how the Internet affects economic disparities between cities through its heterogeneous impact on the economic growth of cities with different penetration rates and population sizes. The results show that the Internet widens the economic disparities between cities with low Internet penetration rates and cities with high Internet penetration rates, and even if the penetration gap between cities is bridged in the future, the Internet will still widen the economic gap between large and small cities due to the reinforcing effect of city size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uneven spatial distribution of economic and financial activities in China has long been a concern of both researchers and policy makers. While most previous research focuses on China’s regional disparities measured using provincial data, this article investigates intra-provincial disparities which reflect the dispersion among cities within a given province. Using data on 282 prefecture-level cities in 25 provinces from 2003 to 2012, the relationship between economic disparity and financial disparity is investigated, after which the effects of the intra-provincial disparities on provincial economic growth are examined. It is found that intra-provincial financial disparity and economic disparity are positively correlated. The results also show that intra-provincial economic disparity has no effect on provincial economic growth. The intra-provincial financial disparity, however, has a negative effect on the local economic growth rate. Therefore, developing financial inclusion and narrowing financial disparity are important measures to maintain sustainable and inclusive economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Few studies of agrarian transition examine what farmers themselves feel about farming. Are they cultivating out of choice or a lack of options? What distinguishes farmers who like farming from those who do not: their personal/household characteristics and endowments? The local ecology and regional economy? Or a mix of these and other factors? Understanding farmer satisfaction is important not only for assessing citizen wellbeing but also for agricultural productivity, since occupational satisfaction can affect a farmer’s incentive to invest and reveal production constraints. Using a unique all-India data-set which asked farmers, ‘Do you like farming?’ this paper provides answers and policy pointers, contributing a little-studied dimension to debates on the smallholder’s future and subjective wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an era when it is proclaimed that, through globalization, the world has become flat, the unevenness of economic and social development is often overlooked or suppressed. This case study explores the conditions of uneven geographical development in the urban space of central Florida. Focusing primarily on the Reedy Creek Improvement District ( RCID), better known to much of the world as Walt Disney World, and on Celebration, the community developed by the Disney Corporation in the 1990s, the relationship between tourism, the defining economic sector in the region, and uneven geographical development is explored. This study shows that the theory of uneven geographical development applies well to a region that is heavily dependent upon the tourist sector for its economy, and thereby works to control the narrative of that space to continue attracting consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although both theoretically and methodologically controversial, measuring competitiveness at sub-national level remains an exciting challenge for analysts. The paper starts with the review of the recent theoretical and empirical literature on regional competitiveness in the European Union, followed by empirical analysis of competitiveness of Croatian regions, tackling differences between the hard data and the survey data as well as clustering the Croatian regions based on their main competitive strengths and weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

From the mid-1950s, social scientists in the USA began trying to understand the geography of economic problems using quantitative methods and theoretical models. Subnational regions had the ideal proportions for performing this research, which led to the creation of a new subject area, ‘regional science’. When regional economic imbalances shot up the political agenda in Britain in the 1960s, advocates of regional science saw an opportunity to expand the reach of their subject. This article examines the migration of American regional science to Britain and explores why its ideas and organisational model met with opposition. It argues that the transnational transfer of academic networks is more complex than has been acknowledged and that British regional research and policy was more influenced by American ideas than is commonly recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Acquisition of land and reallocation of previously acquired land for Special Economic Zones (SEZ) has stimulated protests that provide a terrain for exploring the changing landscape of contestation in the liberalizing political economy of India. Social movements, organizations, and communities resist the land, development, and sovereignty implications of SEZs. Although there are common concerns, efforts to co-organize protests on a national or regional scale have proved difficult. In place of nationwide narratives critiquing the model, anti-SEZ resistance predominantly reflects localized interpretations. The parochial nature of resistance to date is a product of diverse opinions on preferred outcomes, regional, or local viewings of the state, particular political dynamics, and the range of actors involved in SEZ struggles. I argue that the state is not a monolithic entity, but rather the anti-SEZ struggles view and make demands upon distinct levels of or individuals within the state. In developing this position, I explore the localization of SEZ struggles in Goa, India, examine the dynamics of resistance at the state level, and address political opportunities that emerge in the context of protest. The state's recent electoral change provides a chance to reflect further on the shifting ‘state’ target for political protest. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The economic growth that has occurred in post-communist Romania has polarised society and greatly increased existing inequalities. The aim of this paper is to investigate regional disparities, to underline the role of governmental mechanisms in smoothing out territorial inequalities, and to examine the possible effects of regional economic disparities on the performance of regional administrations in delivering public services, in the light of the new regionalisation debate. The conclusion is that Romanian counties' institutional performance does not completely correlate with regional wealth; but regional disparities and the mechanisms used to smooth out inequalities have to be taken into account in the public debate concerning further decentralisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Giesecke J. A. and Madden J. R. Uncovering the factors behind comparative regional economic performance: a multi-regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach, Regional Studies. Recently, a new method has emerged for uncovering the factors driving regional growth disparities. The method involves historical analysis with a multi-regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. This paper has three main aims. First, to demonstrate the capacity of the CGE historical technique to decompose the causes of regional divergence into clearly specified economic factors. Second, to provide a generic miniature model that can be used as a template for adapting any multi-regional CGE model to give it the capacity for undertaking historical analysis. Third, to demonstrate that this same miniature model can be used to explain the regional results in terms of the major model mechanisms behind them. [image omitted] Giesecke J. A. et Madden J. R. Devoiler les facteurs derriere la performance economique comparative des regions: une facon CGE a plusieurs regions, Regional Studies. Recemment, une nouvelle methode qui cherche a devoiler les facteurs qui conduisent les ecarts de la croissance regionale a vu le jour. Cette methode necessite une analyse chronologique a partir d'un modele d'equilibre general a plusieurs regions sur ordinateur. Cet article a trois objectifs. Primo, on cherche a demontrer la capacite de la technique chronologique CGE a decomposer les causes de l'ecart regional en facteurs economiques precis. Secundo, on cherche a fournir un modele miniature generique que l'on peut employer en tant que gabarit afin d'adapter aucun modele CGE a plusieurs regions pour que l'on puisse augmenter sa capacite a faire une analyse chronologique. Tertio, on cherche a demontrer que ce meme modele miniature sert a expliquer les resultats regionaux en termes des mecanismes majeurs qui le soutiennent. Equilibre general sur ordinateur Croissance regionale Ecart regional Analyse chronologique a plusieurs regions Giesecke J. A. und Madden J. R. Ermittlung der Faktoren hinter der komparativen regionalen Wirtschaftsleistung: Ein multiregionaler CGE-Ansatz, Regional Studies. In jungster Zeit ist eine neue Methode zur Ermittlung der Faktoren entstanden, die beim Regionalwachstum Disparitaten verursachen. Die Methode beinhaltet eine historische Analyse mit einem multiregionalen berechenbaren allgemeinen Gleichgewichtsmodell (CGE-Modell). Mit unserem Beitrag verfolgen wir drei Hauptziele. Erstens mochten wir nachweisen, dass sich die historische CGE-Technik zu einer Dekomposition der Ursachen regionaler Divergenz in klar spezifizierte Wirtschaftsfaktoren eignet. Zweitens wollen wir ein generisches Miniaturmodell entwickeln, das als Vorlage zur Anpassung eines beliebigen multiregionalen CGE-Modells genutzt werden kann, um mit diesem Modell historische Analysen durchfuhren zu konnen. Drittens mochten wir nachweisen, dass sich anhand desselben Miniaturmodells die regionalen Ergebnisse hinsichtlich der grosseren, dahinterliegenden Modellmechanismen erlautern lassen. Berechenbares allgemeines Gleichgewicht Regionales Wachstum Regionale Divergenz Multiregionale historische Analyse Giesecke J. A. y Madden J. R. Descubrir los factores tras el rendimiento de la economia regional comparativa: un enfoque multiregional CGE, Regional Studies. Acaba de surgir un nuevo metodo para descubrir los factores que impulsan las desigualdades de crecimiento regional. Con este metodo se realizan analisis historicos mediante un modelo de equilibrio general computable y multiregional. Este documento tiene tres objetivos principales. Primero, demostrar la capacidad de la tecnica historica de equilibrio general computable (CGE) para descomponer las causas de divergencia regional en factores economicos claramente especificos. Segundo, ofrecer un modelo generico en miniatura que puede servir como plantilla para adaptar cualquier modelo multiregional CGE y otorgarle la capacidad de realizar analisis historicos. Tercero, demostrar que este mismo modelo en miniatura puede servir para explicar los resultados regionales en terminos de los mecanismos principales en el modelo que existen detras. Equilibrio computable general Crecimiento regional Divergencia regional Analisis historico multiregional [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fromhold-Eisebith M. and Eisebith G. Looking behind facades: evaluating effects of (automotive) cluster promotion, Regional Studies. Promoting industrial clusters features as a major guideline of regional economic support all over the world. Despite a vivid debate about the concept and its application, research has rarely empirically evaluated the added effects of cluster initiatives and applied methods have hardly been adequate to the task. This paper discusses general issues of assessing cluster promotion and suggests an empirical approach. It presents findings of a research project that has, accordingly, investigated patterns of effects of two automotive cluster initiatives in Germany and Austria. Insights concerning methodological and political issues can be derived. [image omitted] Fromhold-Eisebith M. et Eisebith G. Derriere la facade: evaluation des effets de la promotion des clusters (dans l'industrie automobile), Regional Studies. La promotion des clusters industriels represente actuellement l'un des axes majeurs du soutien economique regional a travers le monde. Malgre de vifs debats portant sur ce concept et son application, les recherches ont rarement evalue empiriquement les effets cumules des initiatives en matiere de clusters, et les methodes appliquees n'etaient guere adaptees a cette tache. Cet article examine les problemes generaux que pose l'evaluation de la promotion des clusters et suggere une approche empirique. Il presente les resultats d'un projet de recherche qui a, en consequence, etudie les effets types de deux initiatives de clusters dans l'industrie automobile en Allemagne et en Autriche. Il est possible d'en tirer des elements de nature a eclairer les problemes methodologiques et politiques. Developpement regional Promotion des clusters Effets Evaluation Methodologie Industrie automobile Fromhold-Eisebith M. und Eisebith G. Ein Blick hinter Fassaden: Bewertung der Wirkungen von (Automotive) Clusterforderung, Regional Studies. Die Clusterforderung bildet mittlerweile weltweit eine wesentliche Leitidee der regionalen Wirtschaftsforderung. Trotz der lebhaften Debatte uber das Clusterkonzept und seine Anwendung sind die durch Clusterinitiativen angeregten Netto-Effekte noch kaum empirisch erforscht worden, und bislang genutzte methodische Ansatze werden der komplexen Aufgabe nicht hinreichend gerecht. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert generelle Erfordernisse der Wirkungsbewertung von Clusterforderung und schlagt einen empirischen Ansatz vor. Er prasentiert die Ergebnisse eines Forschungsprojekts, das dementsprechend die Wirkungsmuster zweiter Automotive-Clusterinitiativen in Deutschland und Osterreich untersucht hat. Dies liefert Erkenntnisse zu methodologischen sowie politischen Implikationen. Regionalentwicklung Clusterforderung Effekte Evaluation Methodologie Automobilindustrie Fromhold-Eisebith M. y Eisebith G. Mirando detras de las fachadas: Evaluacion de los efectos en el fomento de la aglomeracion (automotriz), Regional Studies. El fomento de las aglomeraciones industriales se ha convertido en una guia principal del soporte regional economico en todo el mundo. Pese a un intenso debate sobre el concepto y su aplicacion, rara vez en la investigacion se han evaluado empiricamente los efectos anadidos de las iniciativas de aglomeracion, y los metodos aplicados casi nunca han sido adecuados para la tarea. En este articulo planteamos cuestiones generales en cuanto a evaluar el fomento de aglomeracion y aportamos un enfoque empirico. Presentamos los resultados de un proyecto de investigacion en el que se ha analizado en consecuencia los modelos de los efectos de dos iniciativas de aglomeracion en el sector automotriz en Alemania y Austria. Podemos deducir una mejor comprension de los problemas metodologicos y politicos. Desarrollo regional Fomento de aglomeracion Efectos Evaluacion Metodologia Automotriz [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beenstock M. and Felsenstein D. Regional heterogeneity, conditional convergence and regional inequality, Regional Studies. The paper stresses the importance of accounting for regional heterogeneity in the dynamic analysis of regional economic disparities. Studies of regional growth mainly presume that regions are homogeneous in their socio-demographic composition. It is argued that the analysis of regional convergence needs to be tested conditionally, i.e. conditional upon the socio-demographic structure of the workers in the various regions. To this end, various measures of conditional regional earnings inequality are estimated using Israeli regional data for the period 1991-2002. The results show that about half of regional earnings inequality may be accounted for by the conditioning variables. Conditioning also makes a large difference to estimates of Gini and beta-convergence... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which evaluates China's provincial de jure and de facto population data from 1990-2006 in order to remap the country's regional inequalities. It focuses on the trends in China's regional inequality during the 1990s and argues that the view about the increase of inequality during this period is based on faulty interpretation and application of de jure provincial population statistics. China's regional economic disparities and the role of long-distance migration in regional inequalities are discussed.

Copyright of Spatial Economic Analysis is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Spatial Economic Analysis is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this work we conduct an impact analysis of European Structural Funds to assess their effect on output, prices and consumers' income on the European region of Andalusia, in the south of Spain. For this purpose we present an Applied General Equilibrium Model for Andalusia (AGEM_A) and proceed to compare the reception of regional funds scenario to a hypothetical situation where this financial support has been removed. The AGEM_A has been numerically implemented by supplementing the statistical information provided by the Social Accounting Matrices for Andalusia corresponding to 1990, 1995 and 1999, with data included in the three Community Support Frameworks approved by the European Commission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper summarizes empirical findings and results from the author's most recent research publication in Chinese: China's Unbalanced Economic Growth. It studies China's economic growth with a special emphasis on its regional disparities. It provides an analysis of China's overall economic landscape as well as an empirical study of China's unbalanced regional development. Based on its quantitative findings and results, the author predicts the emergence of ten Chinese metropolitan economies in the early twenty-first century and recommends a regional development strategy as well as implementation policies for China's future development. The major empirical findings, results and conclusions of this research are outlined in three sections: the first describes China's economic future—the emergence of ten regional metropolitan economies, the second reports the empirical findings of China's national and regional economic disparities and discusses policy implications, and the third investigates China's future economic growth and discusses its growth limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has a built-in inflationary tendency because of the partially-reformed nature of its economic system. Specifically, the post-1978 marketization of the economy has interacted with the continued state ownership to create an inflationary ‘liquidity tango’ between the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the state-owned banks. Whenever the hard budget constraint is imposed on the SOEs, China's dysfunctional financial system would impart a deflationary bias to the economy and render China a capital exporting country by constraining the growth of aggregate demand to be less than the growth of aggregate supply. The use of price mechanisms as the only instruments for all economic problems is not appropriate for China's transitional economy, e.g. trade surpluses are better handled by the establishment of an efficient financial intermediation mechanism than by appreciation of the Yuan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, there has been no confidence-building measure capable of locking India and Pakistan into an irreversible relationship and acting as a powerful catalyst for bilateral development, prosperity and regional stability. In the absence of mutual trust, confidence and cooperation between these two countries, it becomes imperative to identify potential areas of cooperation to reduce threat perceptions in the region. Although the economic relationship alone does not play a pivotal role in strengthening the foundation on which the political relationship is built, it could be argued that economic factors have a considerable leverage in influencing the political relationship. In this regard, a focus on energy trade gains significant attention. The energy trade between India and Pakistan has enormous potential to lock them into an irreversible economic interdependence, thereby reinforcing their efforts to intensify relations in other potential areas of cooperation. This paper is an effort to identify the scope for energy trade to act as an economic confidence-building measure in Indo-Pakistan by studying the cost–benefit analysis of Pakistan's inclusion in an Indo-Iran natural gas pipeline project. It analyses in detail India's energy strategy and the economic rationale for trans-Pakistan pipeline. Finally, the paper analyses the potential benefits of a trans-Pakistan pipeline for both India and Pakistan, and its possible impact in creating political constituencies essential for reducing regional conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a panel of 77 Russian regions we investigate the reasons behind large differences in regional growth performance for the period from the start of transition to the 1998 crisis. We consider politico-institutional characteristics, indicators of regional economic reform and initial conditions (including economic, geographical and structural features). Surprisingly, differences in institutional characteristics or economic reform explain relatively little of the observed difference in regional growth performance. For example, we find no evidence that a region's economic performance has been influenced by the political orientation of its leaders, or the political preferences of the population. In contrast, a region's initial industrial structure, as well as its natural and human resource endowments, had a large impact on its economic growth performance during the 1990s. It is important to note that our findings should not be interpreted as saying that reform in transition countries is generally less important than initial conditions, nor that reform in Russia was not or is not needed. Our focus on Russian regions captures only the aspects of reform that have (or have not) been initiated in the regions, and thus does not take into account the large—and arguably more important — part of the changes that have been undertaken at the national level. However, our study shows that regional differences in reform played a minor role in determining the relative economic performance of Russian regions in the 1990s, especially when compared with the impact of the initial conditions in which regions found themselves at the beginning of the transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse some relevant aspects of regional disparities in the EU. The paper departs from standard analysis of convergence by tracking the evolution of the entire distribution, both by using nonparametric techniques and spatial econometric techniques. The main results confirm that: (a) regional disparities across the EU are large and persistent; (b) the ranking among the European regions is very stable; (c) there is a noticeable regional income polarization in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Over the past 7 years Australia has been undergoing substantial economic reform under a collaborative Federal and State government program known as national competition policy. These reforms have increased the nation's productivity and international competitiveness, and are generally held responsible for Australia's increased growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita over the past decade. However, the reforms have been carried out against a background of increased interregional disparities, to which the reform program may have partly contributed. In this study we examine a number of Australian studies that have used computable general equilibrium modeling to uncover the regional economic consequences of national competition policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where do new industrial investments locate, and what factors drive the industrial location decisions? Do these investments follow the model of 'divergence followed by convergence' suggested by the cumulative causation, agglomeration economies, and transport-costs approaches? These questions are examined with district-level data from India for the pre- and post-reform periods using: first, tables and maps of concentration and clustering, aggregated for all industry and disaggregated into five sectors (Heavy Industries, Chemicals and Petroleum, Textiles, Agribusiness, and Utilities), and second, logistic and OLS/Heckman selection regression models for these six elements. The data provide solid evidence both of inter-regional divergence and intra-regional convergence, and suggest that 'concentrated decentralisation' is the appropriate framework for understanding industrial location in post-reform India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of geographic information system (GIS) techniques for rigorous analysis of regional inequality in China remains limited. In this article, the authors utilize recent data and GIS and spatial statistical techniques to analyze changing patterns of regional inequality in China from 1978 to 2000. It also identifies the changing clusters of regional development in China. They illustrate that regional inequality in China is sensitive to development trajectories of the provinces, and that conventional measures of regional inequality mask geographical clustering.

This paper examines how an areas development milieu affects the various components of the migration process. After reviewing the literature on migration-development interrelationships, we employ conventional statistical modeling to understand movement among Costa Rican cantons during a live-year period (1968-73). This is done for the country as a whole, enabling cross-national comparisons with earlier studies, and for urban-to-urban. urban-lo-rural. rural-to-urban, and rural-to-rural streams, which are compared with one another. The results indicate that the models describe urban-based migrations better than rural-based ones; variables closely associated with the market economy have a weaker role in rural settings: and push factors of migration are as important as pull factors. Finally, the spatial pattern of variation in migration processes is consistent with core-periphery development models and with earlier observations of an urban bias in Third World research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the regional change in the German Democratic Republic. Changes in the geographic distributions of economic activity and regional patterns of socioeconomic in the region; Historic concentration of industry in the South and regional inequalities; Problems facing national planners resulting from the conflict of regional planning goals.

Dramatic economic growth in the Asia Pacific has given rise to a both a scholarly and policy oriented debate about the most appropriate organizational form within which any dialogue over the nature economic policy coordination in the region might take place. The most visible exercise in regional economic dialogue over the last few years has been via the evolution of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC). APEC's increasing international profile does not, however, pass uncontested. Some states, and most vocally Malaysia, exhibit a preference for a more 'Asian' and less Pacific' form of regional economic dialogue via the putative East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC). This paper examines APEC and the EAEC as exemplars of two competing conceptions of regional economic cooperation. The paper demonstrates that enhanced economic dialogue in the Asia Pacific cannot be understood simply in rationalistic, utility maximizing terms. Questions of politics, culture and identity are also shaping up to be extremely important. The outcome of this contest over how an understanding of 'region' in the Asia Pacific will be constituted over the long term is yet to be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the contradictions and deficiencies of the economic policies, together with its neo-imperialist aspirations, provide the grounds for embarking upon an inquiry about the substance, indeed the existence of change in Australian strategic thought and practice. The starting point for this enterprise as well as the perspective from which it is viewed is that tradition of scholarship which is defined as the realist school of international relations although it should be noted that "realism" in the Australian context is a mutation: a perspective more deservingly described as "what-realism-has-become."

The article discusses the implications of the economic aspects of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) for Australia. 70% of Australia's trade in goods, exports plus imports in 1990-91, is with APEC countries, two thirds of this being on the side of the Pacific and one third across the Pacific. The proportion of Australia's trade with APEC is higher than the proportion of the world's trade with APEC countries, 40%. All but one of Australia's ten largest country markets are within APEC. To say that the APEC countries are of economic importance to the country is to state the obvious. However, to say that the APEC countries are important to each other and to Australia is not to say that an organisation to embrace the countries involved is needed.

The article discusses the questions about the role of knowledge and learning of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Australia. Contemporary exercises in economic cooperation building in the Pacific are what have been described as simple as opposed to complex exercises in learning. While the behaviour of most regional states, in their gradual receptivity to greater economic cooperation in the face of new circumstances, has changed, their values and aims have remained largely unaltered.

The article discusses the rule against external interference in Australia. The balance in favour of 'a right to intervene', certainly as far as human rights are concerned, has shifted because in the post-Cold War era, security considerations are no longer paramount. Governments are now less inclined to ignore violations of human rights for the sake, for example, of the unity of the anti-Soviet alliance where in relation to China, the US has reversed its priority of selling China weapons and naval equipment while overlooking the issue of human rights.

The article focuses on the significance of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and its implication for the politics of domestic economic adjustment and its wider foreign policy possibilities. One set of basic questions concerning APEC centers on the domestic costs and benefits it may entail. Any direct role for APEC in expanding regional economic activity is likely to be modest and correspondingly, APEC itself will not be imposing significant adjustment costs on member countries. APEC needs to be seen also in a wider context than these preoccupations with liberalisation and regional economic cooperation.

The article discusses the basic motives for regional economic cooperation, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) evolution and its fundamental objectives. It is followed by an evolutionary strategy to approach these objectives, outlining the way this can serve the interests of APEC's diverse constituency. The conservative motive for closer cooperation has been, and continues to be, important. There is a growing realisation that the recent record of growth and mutually beneficial interdependence in the region cannot be taken for granted: it will require regular high-level communications to identify emerging opportunities, to reduce obstacles and to defuse frictions.