ABSTRACT
The ten Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Member States have steadily engaged in establishing freer trading markets, not only among the Member States but also with their six neighbouring countries. Prior to the ASEAN Economic Community's inauguration, ASEAN formed bilateral free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand, China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea. A number of studies quantify the economic effects of the regional comprehensive economic partnerhsip (RCEP) using computable general equilibrium models. The RCEP’s impact on the real GDP of members varies, reflecting the economic size and the depth of the liberalisation commitments by the ASEAN Member States, ranging from 538 million US dollar for Brunei to 120 billion US dollar for the Philippines. The Global Trade Analysis Project Data Base records the entire global economy with detailed information on 57 industrial sectors in 140 regions.
