IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ris/badest/0578.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pattern of Intraregional Trade: Unbundling a South Asian Conundrum

Author

Listed:
  • Abul Basher

    (Research Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) .)

Abstract

South Asia is one of the least integrated regions of the world. While individual member countries have been successfully increased their share of trade in the global market, growth of intraregional trade lags behind the growth of the region’s overall trade. This paper analyses the reasons for this apparently puzzling nature of South Asian economies. The paper decomposes the regional trade statistics between 2000 and 2012 to analyse the dynamics of regional trade and factors behind it. The findings suggest that one of the missing elements is the inability of the region to meet its demand for imports internally with the change of the economic structure. India, being the largest economy, is the main driver of the intraregional trade. The trade preference of the SAARC countries has been changing disfavouring India. This is mainly due to India’s relative inability to meet the import demand of other South Asian countries. In the absence of strengthened economic ability to meet their own demand, the scope for intra-industry trade, emergence of regional value chain, and trade in new areas like services, intraregional trade is unlikely to register any notable improvements

Suggested Citation

  • Abul Basher, 2014. "Pattern of Intraregional Trade: Unbundling a South Asian Conundrum," Bangladesh Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), vol. 37(04), pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:badest:0578
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://bids.org.bd/uploads/publication/BDS/37/37-4/1_Pattern%20of%20Intraregional%20Trade.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee, Jong-Wha, 1995. "Capital goods imports and long-run growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 91-110, October.
    2. Balassa, Bela, 1986. "Policy Responses to Exogenous Shocks in Developing Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 75-78, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Óscar Afonso, 2001. "The Impact of International Trade on Economic Growth," FEP Working Papers 106, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    2. Mehraj Ahmad Sheikh & Mushtaq Ahmad Malik & Rana Zehra Masood, 2020. "Assessing the effects of trade openness on sustainable development: evidence from India," Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Krume Nikoloski & Vlatko Paceskoski, 2015. "Contemporary Trends In The World Trade," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 6, pages 21-26, December.
    4. Fertő, Imre, 1995. "A mezőgazdasági árak stabilizálásának problémáiról [On the problems of stabilizing agricultural prices]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 256-269.
    5. Baldwin, Richard E. & Seghezza, Elena, 1996. "The New Growth Theory: Its Logic and Trade Policy Implications," 1996: Implications of the New Growth Theory to Agricultural Trade Research and Trade Policy Conference, December 1996, Washington DC 50862, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    6. Seref Saygili & Cengiz Cihan & Cihan Yalcin & Turknur Hamsici, 2010. "Turkiye Imalat Sanayiin Ithalat Yapisi," Working Papers 1002, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
    7. Hendricks, Lutz, 2000. "Equipment investment and growth in developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 335-364, April.
    8. Stefanescu, Razvan & Dumitriu, Ramona, 2014. "Investigation on the relationship between Romanian foreign trade and industrial production," MPRA Paper 62547, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Spencer, Barbara J., 1997. "Quota licenses for imported capital equipment: Could bureaucrats ever do better than the market?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1-2), pages 1-27, August.
    10. Ben Fine, 1998. "Endogenous Growth Theory: A Critical Assessment," Working Papers 80, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK.
    11. Antoni Estevadeordal & Alan M. Taylor, 2013. "Is the Washington Consensus Dead? Growth, Openness, and the Great Liberalization, 1970s–2000s," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1669-1690, December.
    12. Yaşar Turna, 2021. "Development of Import-Based Exports in Turkey: The ARDL Approach," Istanbul Business Research, Istanbul University Business School, vol. 50(1), pages 1-14, May.
    13. Harrison, Ann & Rodríguez-Clare, Andrés, 2010. "Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy for Developing Countries," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4039-4214, Elsevier.
    14. Co, Catherine Y., 2014. "Supply-side constraints, capital goods imports, and the quality of Sub-Saharan African countries exports," WIDER Working Paper Series 142, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Ferreira, Pedro Cavalcanti & Pessôa, Samuel de Abreu & Veloso, Fernando A., 2014. "Distortions in the investment goods sector and productivity decline," FGV EPGE Economics Working Papers (Ensaios Economicos da EPGE) 755, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil).
    16. Irina V. Zastrozhnikova & Nadiia V. Datsii & Nelya M. Filyanina & Petro S. Oleshko & Nataliia M. Shkvorchenko & Liliia A. Martynets, 2020. "Financial and Economic Support of the Organization of the Educational Process," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(Special 1), pages 299-309.
    17. Christian L., Nguena, 2012. "The Role of Foreign Trade in Economic Growth and Individual Heterogeneity Problem in Panel Data: The Case of African Countries," MPRA Paper 49559, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 22 Mar 2013.
    18. Maria Jesus Herrerias & Vicente Orts, 2011. "The driving forces behind China’s growth," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 19(1), pages 79-124, January.
    19. NguyenHuu, Tams & Karaman Örsal, Deniz Dilan, 2020. "A new and benign hegemon on the horizon? The Chinese century and growth in the Global South," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 14, pages 1-35.
    20. Andrew Sharpe & Jean-François Arsenault, 2008. "ICT Investment and Productivity: A Provincial Perspective," CSLS Research Reports 2008-06, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    South Asia; Regional Integration; Bilateral Trade;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F40 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ris:badest:0578. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Meftaur Rahman, Cheif Publication Officer, BIDS (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bidssbd.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.