Transformation of the World Economy and Institutionalization of East Asian Region

Abstract

It has been half a century since the start of the economic growth of East Asia. During this period, we saw high economic growth and industrialization of Japan starting in the 1960s, followed by the newly industrialized economies (NIEs) since the late 1960s, the advanced economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from the second half of the 1980s, and China and the latecomer ASEAN economies since the 1990s. By the end of the twentieth century, East Asia has achieved the indisputable position as the world’s manufacturing base. Actually, East Asia has grown to surpass the current economic size of Europe and America and is displaying concomitant dramatic changes in regional economic structure. In this paper, author aims to examine the East Asia's economic growth excluding Japan, and associated issues from the twe perspectives of its growth mechanism and regional institutionalization through cooperation regime based on the ASEAN.