Trade Policy in Asia

Education and media services have much in common. Both provide services that embody local cultures, in which there is extensive public sector participation and significant domestic regulation. At the same time, both are dramatically affected by the information and communications technology revolution. The production of information content now involves huge costs in terms of research and development or artistic talent, whilst the cost of making such products available to other consumers is very low. This in turn challenges the effectiveness of domestic regulation and raises fundamental questions about its purpose, calling for an increased scope for international trade and investment, and the development of supply chains.

Yet, both areas are lightly committed in international trade agreements like the GATS. This lack of commitment and the lack of additional impact from negotiations in bilateral discriminatory trade agreements are cross-cutting themes in the book.

Trade Policy in Asia responds to these issues to provide readers with a comprehensive and consistent treatment of policy in the higher education and media services sector across a range of Asian economies little studied in the existing literature. The book opens the discussion with an overview of global trends in each area, followed by detailed, country-specific studies. Through comparative work, it identifies common elements across these sectors and highlights critical implications for trade policy.

Education services themes include the growth and impediments involved in various forms of trade and investment; the emergence of a ‘new wave’ of globalization; obstacles faced by domestic providers in supplying services; a common ambition to become an education services hub for international students; and the scope for greater international cooperation in research.

Media services themes include the impact of new technology on options for content delivery and the associated problems for policy implementation and copyright protection, and the new challenges of globalization for social goals relating to local cultures, as well as risks involved in implementing policies that pursue these goals.

Contents: Overview, by Christopher Findlay (Christopher Findlay, Hildegunn Kyrik Nordas, and Gloria Pasadilla)From Cross-Border Higher Education to Trade in Education Services (Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin)People's Republic of China's Regulations in Higher Education Services (Xingde Zhu)Trade and Investment in Higher Education Services in Hong Kong, China (Jane Drake-Brockman)International Transactions in Tertiary Education Services: The Case of Japan (Shintaro Hamanaka)Trade Liberalization and Domestic Regulations: Implications for Malaysia as a Regional Education Hub (Siew Yean Tham)Internationalization of Tertiary Education Services in Singapore (Mun-Heng Toh)Audiovisual Services: International Trade and Cultural Policy (Gillian Doyle)Audiovisual Services in India (Arpita Mukherjee)Audiovisual Services in the Republic of Korea: Market Development and Policies (Yeongkwan Song)
Readership: Postgraduates, researchers, academics, policymakers, and professionals interested in Asian business, Asian economics, international economics and developmental economics.