The paper begins by noting that proposals involving significant developments in the regional tradearchitecture are being developed within regional processes that in some cases are simultaneouslypursuing other dimensions of regional economic integration: monetary and financial cooperation inthe case of ASEAN + 3, and the establishment of a common market in the case of ASEAN. At leastthree of the...

This paper explores the reasons why regional economics does not focus on the regional balance of payments. The main focus will be to gauge the importance of external imbalances in regional economies, with that concept being confined to the trade (goods and services) account. Discussion centers on why regions can run wider trade deficits than nations and it is argued that they may even benefit r...

This paper shows that both relative wages and industry structure vary considerably across regions of the United Kingdom. In accordance with the neoclassical model of trade, skill-abundant regions exhibit lower skill premia than skill-scarce regions and tend to specialise in a more skillintensive mix of manufacturing sectors. We show that this specialisation leads U.K. regions to be asymmetrical...

Recent urbanization processes have been dramatically transformed by factors both external and internal to the urban system: increased globalization and economic competition; the realignment of trade and capital flows; demographic transitions, characterized by declining fertility levels and increased immigration; fluctuations in commodity prices; technological innovations; a reduction in the cos...