The next steps in ASEAN+3 monetary integration

Michael Johnston submits:WisdomTree, the New York-based ETF issuer best known for its fundamentally-weighted domestic and international ETFs, is looking to expand its line of currency products. In a recent filing with the SEC, WisdomTree highlighted two new funds that would offer unique exposure to the U.S. dollar.

Pradumna B. Rana, Chia Wai Mun, 1 April 2013The global economy was once dominated by north-north relations, with some limited concern for north-south relations. This column argues that south-south economic relations now matter and explains what new ‘look east’ policies that are being implemented in south Asia mean for the global south and the global economy.Full Article: The need for a second round of ‘look east’ policies in south Asia

Maybe. Governor Romney has stated that he will declare China a currency manipulator on Day One, should he be elected President. In contrast to his other policy positions – from tax rates on the upper incomes, defense spending, coverage of pre-existing health conditions, the Blunt Amendment, Afghanistan timetable, first strike on Iran – he has exhibited remarkable (and pretty unique) constancy in his desire to call China a currency manipulator.

Pradumna B. Rana, 22 September 2012The Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s shows what can happen when economists misdiagnose a crisis. This column argues the Eurozone crisis may have been made worse by over-simplifying it as a debt crisis. The author suggests that the large institutional changes now afoot – the shift from Eurozone I to Eurozone II – are finally addressing the root causes, but they may be too little too late.Full Article: Misdiagnosing the Eurozone crisis: Perspectives from Asia

With the cover page of the Economist [1] [2] worrying about currency wars, and various analysts arguing whether the US can or cannot win such a "war" (see Naked

By Shinji Kitamura TOKY

The Chestnut Conference Centre, once a hotel but now part of a non-descript student residence in downtown Toronto, is only a short walk from Queen’s Park but worlds apart from the stately brass and wood fittings of the seat of the provincial government. As such, it was a suitable neutral ground for the first skirmishes of The Great Ontario Labour War of 2012.

ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan Tuesday urged member states to step up intra-regional trade, saying it was "difficult" otherwise to see the bloc reaching its goal of economic integration by 2015.The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has set 2015 as the target for creating a single regional economic market known as the ASEAN Economic Community.