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

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

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.

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.

China and Southeast Asia establish the world's biggest free trade area (FTA) on Friday, liberalising billions of dollars in goods and investments covering a market of 1.7 billion consumers.Eight years in the making, the ASEAN-China FTA will rival the European Union and the North American Free Trade Area in terms of value and surpass those markets in terms of population.Officials hope it will expand Asia's trade reach while boosting intra-regional trade that has already been expanding at 20 percent a year.