East Asia's Economic Integration: Progress and Benefit

FTAs are proliferating in East Asia. This proliferation will become a foundation for the region's economic integration on the one hand, but will also lead to the "spaghetti (or noodle) ball syndrome," due to a mixture of different rules such as rules of origin. In addition, the need for many procedures and documents, as well as custom clearance at borders for road transportation, consumes great time and costs, leading to high transportation costs. There are many issues to address in order to attain further economic integration. This book explores the current state and direction of economic integration in East Asia and examines how economic integration can allow each economy to benefit equally.