Building on the work done in the First Phase of the programme, RIS research explores the relative merits of alternative proposals floated for evolving a pan-Asian framework for regional economic integration to find a way forward. The work includes examination of the welfare gains arising from alternative approaches such as the East Asian Economic Community (EAEC) proposal developed by the East Asia Vision Group essentially combining ASEAN+3 (Japan, China and Korea) countries vis-à-vis the JACIK (Japan, ASEAN, China, India and Korea) roadmap developed by RIS as a initial building block of a broader Asian Economic Community. The welfare gains are computed within a computable general equilibrium (CGE) framework. This analysis is complemented by analysis exploring the complementarities and intensity of linkages between India and East Asia. The study also identifies the broad areas of regional economic cooperation, elements of such cooperation and the sequencing. An early version of the study was presented at the High-level Conference on Economic Cooperation organized by the Asian Development Bank in Manila on 1-2 July 2004. As revised version will be presented at the Tokyo conference in November 2004.

Research Team: Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Prof. Mukul Asher, Dr. S.K. Mohanty et al.