ABSTRACT
East and South Asia are home to breathtaking economic diversity. At one end of the spectrum are the advanced economies of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. At the other end are the least-developed economies such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Then there are low-income countries, notably China and India, but also Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. In between are upper-middle and middle–income Malaysia and Thailand. Finally, there are anomalies such as North Korea and Brunei. Huge differences in politics, institutions and historical legacies accentuate the diversity. Hence it is not surprising that Asian economic integration, even in ‘globalizing Asia’, 2 is rather weak.
