IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ahe/dtaehe/2110.html

Natural Trading Partners Versus Empires in East and Southeast Asia Regional Integration (1840-1938)

Author

Listed:
  • Alejandro Ayuso-Díaz

    (CUNEF Universidad, Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

This paper tries to contribute to the literature dealing with the history of regional integration in East and Southeast Asia, reconciling the arguments defending that those territories are natural trading partners, those supporting that Western Empires enabled integration, and the ones claiming that it was the Japanese Empire which expanded regional trade. With this purpose, we reconstruct the region’s bilateral imports before the establishment of Free Trade Areas. This work is pioneering in the econometric analysis of the main drivers of the commercial integration of East and Southeast Asia during the high colonial era (1840-1938). Our results show that countries' specific economic and cultural characteristics made them natural trading partners. However, intra-Asian trade acceleration during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries was possible by the British free trade imperialism and the planned industrialization of the Japanese empire.

Suggested Citation

  • Alejandro Ayuso-Díaz, 2021. "Natural Trading Partners Versus Empires in East and Southeast Asia Regional Integration (1840-1938)," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 2110, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.
    • Handle: RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:2110
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://media.timtul.com/media/web_aehe/DT-AEHE-2110_20240108092656.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carrere, Celine, 2006. "Revisiting the effects of regional trade agreements on trade flows with proper specification of the gravity model," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 223-247, February.
    2. William Martin & Cong S. Pham, 2020. "Estimating the gravity model when zero trade flows are frequent and economically determined," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(26), pages 2766-2779, May.
    3. Fally, Thibault, 2015. "Structural gravity and fixed effects," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 76-85.
    4. Yang, Shanping & Martinez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada, 2014. "A panel data analysis of trade creation and trade diversion effects: The case of ASEAN–China Free Trade Area," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 138-151.
    5. K. C. Fung & Lawrence J. Lau & Yanyan Xiong, 2006. "Adjusted Estimates Of United States–China Bilateral Trade Balances: An Update," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 299-314, October.
    6. Kristian Behrens & Cem Ertur & Wilfried Koch, 2012. "‘Dual’ Gravity: Using Spatial Econometrics To Control For Multilateral Resistance," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(5), pages 773-794, August.
    7. Redding, Stephen & Venables, Anthony J., 2004. "Economic geography and international inequality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 53-82, January.
    8. Wandschneider, Kirsten, 2008. "The Stability of the Interwar Gold Exchange Standard: Did Politics Matter?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(1), pages 151-181, March.
    9. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
    10. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson, 2004. "Intermediaries in Entrepôt Trade: Hong Kong Re‐Exports of Chinese Goods," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 3-35, March.
    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. Ayuso-Díaz, Alejandro, 2022. "Natural trading partners versus empires in East and Southeast Asia regional integration (1840-1938)," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    2. Martin, Will, 2020. "Making Gravity Great Again," 2020: Economic Implications of COVID-19, December 14-15, Virtual Platform 339376, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    3. Yoto V. Yotov, 2024. "The evolution of structural gravity: The workhorse model of trade," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(4), pages 578-603, October.
    4. Antoine Gervais, 2018. "Estimating the impact of country‐level policy restrictions on services trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 743-767, September.
    5. Jacks, David S. & Novy, Dennis, 2018. "Market Potential and Global Growth over the Long Twentieth Century," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 221-237.
    6. Feenstra Robert C & Hanson Gordon H. & Lin Songhua, 2004. "The Value of Information in International Trade: Gains to Outsourcing through Hong Kong," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-37, August.
    7. Antoine Gervais, 2025. "A decomposition of the variance of international trade flows," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 68(5), pages 2073-2092, May.
    8. Mario Larch & Yoto V. Yotov, 2016. "General Equilibrium Trade Policy Analysis with Structural Gravity," CESifo Working Paper Series 6020, CESifo.
    9. Alejandro Ayuso-Díaz & Antonio Tena-Junguito, 2024. "US and Japan rivalry in Philippine interwar import manufactures market. Power politics, trade cost and competitiveness," Working Papers 0265, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    10. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Gröschl, Jasmin, 2013. "Natural disasters and the effect of trade on income: A new panel IV approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 18-30.
    11. Getachew Magnar Kitila & Fuzhong Chen, 2021. "Multilateral Trade Resistance, International Competitiveness and African International Exports: A Network Perspective," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 5(10), pages 111-126.
    12. Kazutaka TAKECHI, 2016. "Daily Gravity," Discussion papers 16095, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    13. Piermartini, Roberta & Yotov, Yoto V., 2016. "Estimating trade policy effects with structural gravity," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2016-10, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    14. Jasmin Katrin Gröschl, 2013. "Gravity Model Applications and Macroeconomic Perspectives," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 48, April.
    15. Atsuko Matsumura, 2021. "Gravity analysis of trade for environmental goods focusing on bilateral tariff rates and regional integration," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 477-511, June.
    16. Güzin Bayar, 2018. "Estimating export equations: a survey of the literature," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 629-672, March.
    17. Alberto Behar & Laia Cirera-i-Crivillé, 2013. "Does it Matter Who You Sign With? Comparing the Impacts of North–South and South–South Trade Agreements on Bilateral Trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 765-782, September.
    18. Sebastián Villano, 2024. "Comparative Perspectives on Trade Cost Geography: Latin American Insights," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 24-12, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    19. Harach, Monika & Rodriguez-Crespo, Ernesto, 2014. "Foreign direct investment and trade: A bi-directional gravity approach," Kiel Advanced Studies Working Papers 467, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
    20. David Landry, 2024. "Does governance matter? Comparing the determinants of Chinese and Western trade with Africa," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(2), pages 342-354, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • B17 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - International Trade and Finance
    • B27 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - International Trade and Finance
    • C12 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Hypothesis Testing: General
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ahe:dtaehe:2110. 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: Andreu Seguí Beltrán (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeheeea.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.