ASEAN Economy: Diversity, Disparities, and Dynamics: Editors' Overview

• Author: Colin MCKENZIE,Takatoshi ITO,Akira KOJIMA,Shujiro URATA
• Date: 01 June 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-3131.2011.01192.x
• Published date: 01 June 2011

ASEAN Economy: Diversity, Disparities, and

Dynamics: Editors’ Overview

Takatoshi ITO,1Akira KOJIMA,2Colin MCKENZIE3† and Shujiro URATA4

1The University of Tokyo, 2Japan Center for Economic Research, 3Keio University and 4Waseda University

JEL codes: F1, F4, F5, F14, F15, F21, G01, O11, O16, O17, O53

1. ASEAN: A Primer

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formally established by its five

founding members, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, on

August 8, 1967 when the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) was signed by

Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok. ASEAN at this point can be regarded as a

successful merger of the not-so-successful attempts at regional cooperation in the form of

the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) that had been formed by the Philippines, Malay-

sia, and Thailand in 1961 and MAPHINDO formed by Malaysia, the Philippines, and

Indonesia in 1962.aepr_11921..21

The first expansion of ASEAN’s membership came 17 years after its creation when

Brunei Darussalam joined the group on January 8, 1984.Vietnam was admitted on July 28,

1995, and became the first socialist/communist member in the group. Lao PDR and

Myanmar joined ASEAN on July 23, 1997, followed by Cambodia on April 30, 1999,

resulting in the current membership of 10 countries. The last four countries are the

poorest among the 10 countries, and are sometimes referred to bythe abbrev iation CLMV

(the first letters of the four countries). Looking forward, Papua New Guineacurrently has

observer status at ASEAN and East Timor aims at joining the club.

Table 1 provides some keybasic infor mation relatingto the 10 members of ASEAN In

terms of population, Indonesia is the most populous, and its population is about 2.5 larger

than the population of the Philippines, the second populous country in ASEAN. The

income disparity among the member nations is also large, as the richest, Singapore, is in

the league of advanced nations, while the poorest, Myanmar, has a per capita gross

domestic product (GDP) that is only 187th of Singapore’s per capita GDP. Indeed, the

ASEAN countries are very diverse in quite a number of respects, for example: the rich–

poor inequality; their resource endowments; their comparative advantage in various

industries; whether or not they had been colonized before the Second World War; their

political regimes in the postwar period and their current political regimes; their cultural

complexity, and their religious orientation. This diversity has both strengths and weak-

nesses in advancing their economic integration. However, the diversity makes it necessary

to respect voluntary participation in economic integration. No interference in internal

affairs and gradualism are sometimes dubbed as being the ASEAN-way.

†Correspondence: Colin McKenzie, Faculty of Economics, Keio University, 2-15-45 Mita, Tokyo

108-8345, Japan. Email: mckenzie@z8.keio.ac.jp

doi: 10.1111/j.1748-3131.2011.01192.x Asian Economic Policy Review (2011) 6, 1–21

© 2011 The Authors

Asian Economic Policy Review © 2011 Japan Center for Economic Research 1

Tab l e 1 Basic Information on ASEAN members

Country Capital city

Dates of joining

ASEAN

GDP (USD

billions) 2009§

GDP

share (%)

Population

(millions) 2009¶

Population

share (%)

Per capita GDP

(USD) 2009§

Indonesia Jakarta 1967 (August 8) 546.865 36.5 231.370 39.1 2364

Philippines Manila 1967 (August 8) 161.358 10.8 92.227 15.6 1750

Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 1967 (August 8) 193.108 12.9 28.306 4.8 6822

Thailand Bangkok 1967 (August 8) 264.323 17.7 66.903 11.3 3951

Singapore Singapore 1967 (August 8) 182.702 12.2 4.988 0.8 36,631

Brunei Darussalam Bandar Seri Begawan 1984 (January 8) 10.759 0.7 0.406 0.1 26,486

Vietnam Hanoi 1995 (July 28) 96.317 6.4 87.228 14.7 1120

Lao PDR Vientiane 1997 (July 23) 5.579 0.4 5.922 1.0 911

Myanmar† Naypyidaw‡ 1997 (July 23) 24.973 1.7 59.534 10.1 420

Cambodia Phnom Penh 1999 (April 30) 10.359 0.7 14.958 2.5 693

Total 1496.341 100.0 591.841 100.0 2533

Source: ASEAN Secretariat, Selected Key Indicators, table 1, http://www.aseansec.org/19226.htm.

Notes: †The official name of the country was changed from “Burma”to “Myanmar” in 1989. ‡The capital was moved from Yangon to Naypyidaw in May

2006. §Figures for Lao PDR and Myanmar are taken from the IMF WEO Database April 2010. ¶Refers to/based on mid-year total population based on

country projections, preliminary figures. ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations; GDP,gross domestic product.

Editorial Takatoshi Ito et al.

© 2011 The Authors

Asian Economic Policy Review © 2011 Japan Center for Economic Research

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