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ADB TODAY launched the first three papers in a new ADB Working Paper Series on Regional Economic Integration. The series will focus on topics relating to regional cooperation and integration in the areas of infrastructure and software, trade and investment, money and finance, and regional public goods. It is intended to provide information, generate discussion, and elicit comments on regional cooperation and integration in the Asia and Pacific region.

All papers launched under the series are available at http://aric.adb.org.

The first three papers are:

The ASEAN Economic Community and the European Experience, by Michael G. Plummer, Professor of International Economics at Johns Hopkins University SAIS–Bologna.

The paper analyzes the lessons (both positive and negative) for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) that might be gleaned from the European Union (EU) economic integration experience. The paper notes that while there is much that the EU experience can teach ASEAN, the region should not underestimate the substantive differences between the two regions or their differing historical contexts. Based on this analysis, the paper suggests various approaches to the creation of the AEC that ASEAN might consider as it develops the AEC program.

Economic Integration in East Asia: Trends, Prospects, and a Possible Roadmap, by Pradumna B. Rana, Senior Advisor, Office of Regional Economic Integration, Asian Development Bank.

This paper reviews trends in East Asian regionalism in the areas of trade and investment, money and finance, and infrastructure. It presents various measures of trade and financial integration. An important finding of the paper is that increasing trade and financial integration in the region is now starting to lead to a synchronization of business cycles in a selected group of countries, further enhancing the case for monetary integration among these countries. The paper also outlines a roadmap for East Asian integration.

Central Asia after Fifteen Years of Transition: Growth, Regional Cooperation, and Policy Choices, by Malcolm Dowling, Singapore Management University, Singapore; and Ganeshan Wignaraja, Office of Regional Economic Integration, Asian Development Bank.

This paper presents a coherent and systematic analysis of the collapse and subsequent revival of the Central Asian Republics (CARs) since 1990. The focus is on the pattern of growth and structural change during the cycle of decline and subsequent revival in the CARs. The paper relates economic performance to initial conditions, country characteristics, and policies. Within this framework, it proposes a simple typology of policies - including a new “Type III” set of policies on regional cooperation and industrial competitiveness - and relates them to the cycle of decline and revival. It goes on to examine medium-term prospects and policy needs for the CARs.

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