Prelude to the Pacific Century: Overview of the Region, Leading Issues, and Methodology

Abstract

The Pacific Basin is the most robust economic region of the world. Over half the world's population resides in countries bordering on it, and this region's average economic growth rate has been double that of the rest of the world since 1970. The volume of trade on the Pacific is three times that on the Atlantic and has been growing twice as fast. In less than a generation, this region has become the global pacesetter for market-based economic development and a model of efficient international specialization. This volume examines a number of leading issues facing the Pacific Basin, collecting the research and opinions of experts from around the region on its economic prospects into the next generation. In particular, some of these authors examine the received history of trade rivalry and the new initiatives for regional cooperation in trade. Another series of papers examines Pacific multilateralism from the capital account perspective, detailing a complex web of foreign direct investment linkages that now pervades the region. Finally, two papers examine an important emergent issue in the region and the world - links between trade, sustainable resource use, and the environment. Taken together, these studies cover issues of the highest priority for policy dialogue and research, in this region and in the context of multilateralism generally, now and for the foreseeable future.