Since its launch in late 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a significant factor in shaping China's economic and diplomatic relations with the world. China's increasing clout presents opportunities as well as challenges, especially for the developing economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which constitute major sites for investment and trade alongside the BRI routes.This edited volume examines whether and to what extent China's economic ascendancy has impacted the proposed ASEAN Economic Community and the respective nations in the region. It deals with this question by grounding the analysis along three themes - institutions at a regional level, industry/sector, and particular ASEAN countries' economic relationship with China. Sixteen articles are presented to illuminate the state of affairs at the regional level and in specific ASEAN economies. They point to the importance of managing trade and investment flows stemming from China's increasingly sophisticated national firms. This in turn hinges on forging 'rules of the game' at both the multilateral and bilateral levels, which potentially leads to mutually beneficial industrialization and long-term wealth creation.The Political Economy of Regionalism, Trade, and Infrastructure will be of great interest to scholars of political economy and industrial policy in East Asia, as well as to scholars and policy professionals analyzing approaches to development strategy more broadly.

This volume provides an intensive review of the economic competitiveness of Singapore's economy. It identifies and analyses the strategies which will allow the economy to retain its competitive advantage in the years ahead in an increasingly globalised economic environment, considerably liberalised international trading and investment climate, and with regional economies challenging the country's competitive edge as a regional transportation hub, international financial centre and a primary regional centre for technology and education. Dialogues and interviews with managers and CEOs of industries in the private and public sectors are also included.

This volume provides an intensive review of the economic competitiveness of Singapore's economy. It identifies and analyses the strategies which will allow the economy to retain its competitive advantage in the years ahead in an increasingly globalised economic environment, considerably liberalised international trading and investment climate, and with regional economies challenging the country's competitive edge as a regional transportation hub, international financial centre and a primary regional centre for technology and education. Dialogues and interviews with managers and CEOs of industries in the private and public sectors are also included.

There is a large literature dealing with the spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to emerging and developing economies at the aggregate level. Beyond the aggregate impacts, a growing number of studies also examine the impact of FDI spillovers on firms of different sizes, especially small and medium enterprises (SME). This book is dedicated to exploring issues relating to the various interactions between FDI flows, productivity spillovers and SMEs in Asia and beyond. It studies globalization, FDI, and regional innovation in China, and trade and investment liberalization in India. It analyses how to promote SMEs and enhance labor productivity in Singapore. It investigates the impact of intellectual property rights processes on productivity growth. It documents the use of finance and financing patterns of informal firms. It uses empirical analysis to point out the limitations of traditional banks lending to SMEs and suggests possible policy approaches facilitating them to access growth capital. It also provides an empirical investigation of the main determinants of entrepreneurial activities.

This unique volume aims to provide a first comprehensive assessment on attributes, conditions and characters which constitute a liveable city. The book posits that the degree of liveability depends on five themes: satisfaction with the freedom from want; satisfaction with the state of the natural environment and its management; satisfaction with freedom from fear; satisfaction with the socio-cultural conditions; and satisfaction with public governance.The authors attempt to be more constructive through performing policy simulations by first identifying relative weaknesses and strengths of 64 global cities across major continents including European, Asian, Middle Eastern, North and South American cities. The book also ranks and simulates 36 Asian cities separately, of which many are emerging third-world cities that are in need of policy guidance.