At Your Service: Trade Liberalization Could Bring Huge Benefits to Southeast Asia
Global integration of markets is becoming the new norm for economic development. While the trade conflict between the United States and the People’s Republic of China continues, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations considers the sweeping Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, discussions on trade liberalization have taken researchers, policymakers and traders by storm.
Trade liberalization has expanded market opportunities, produced economies of scale and eased the availability and affordability of inputs and outputs across nations through comparative advantages. This has likely boosted major macroeconomic indicators such as employment, productivity, output, efficiency, competitiveness and skills enhancement.
A 2002 study found that trade liberalization increased access to markets for the manufactured exports of developing economies. It found that the impact of trade liberation in the area of services was affected by company and worker mobility, the heterogeneity of services, and capturing capital flows, especially in the form of foreign direct investment.
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