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Financial integration has played an essential role in achieving economic growth in the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). However, its effects on economic growth in the region in the long run have been underexamined. This paper examines these effects for the ASEAN member countries.

A fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) estimation is used to take into account two critical econometric issues in panel data analysis, including (1) cross-sectional dependence and (2) slope heterogeneity. The dynamic ordinary least squares estimation is also used for robustness analysis. The authors use the generalized least squares estimation to examine the effects in the short run.

This study’s empirical results confirm the important role of financial integration to economic growth in the ASEAN countries in the short term. However, the effects appear to disappear in the long term. The authors also find capital, labor, and human development positively contribute to economic growth in the region. International trade plays a significant role in supporting economic growth in the ASEAN in the short run. However, its effect seems to weaken in the long run.

The growth effects of financial integration in the ASEAN region in the long term have largely been neglected. As such, the authors examine these effects using updated data on financial integration. The authors extend this study’s analysis by considering foreign direct investment and financial depth as the alternative proxies for financial integration. Other estimation technique is also used as the robustness check.

This study examines the co-integration relationships between Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) stock indices as a way to assess the feasibility of policy initiatives to strengthen market integration in ASEAN and identify implications for portfolio investors.

The authors employ threshold co-integration tests and a non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model to study the asymmetric dynamics of ASEAN equity markets. The study’s data cover the 2009–2022 period for seven member states: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The authors find evidence supporting co-integration relationships; adjustment toward equilibrium is asymmetric in the short run and symmetric in the long run for these countries. While co-movement in ASEAN equity markets seems encouraging for initiatives seeking to foster financial integration in regional economies, the benefits for international portfolio diversification appear to be neutralized.

The issue of stock market integration is important among policymakers, investors and academics. This study examines the level of stock market integration in ASEAN during the 2009–2022 period. For this purpose, advanced co-integration techniques are applied to different frequencies of data (daily, weekly and monthly) for comparison and completeness. The empirical analysis of this study is conducted using the Enders and Siklos (2001) co-integration and threshold adjustment procedure. This advanced co-integration technique is superior compared to other co-integration techniques by permitting asymmetry in the adjustment toward equilibrium.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and integration of Islamic stock markets across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN-5) countries for economic community (AEC) development.

Using samples of daily closing prices from 2009 to 2014 across ASEAN-5 countries, co-integration and Granger-causality tests were applied.

This research finds that Islamic capital markets across ASEAN-5 countries remain highly integrated despite the global financial crisis of 2008, and it also finds the integration strength between Jakarta Islamic Index -Indonesia and Bursa Malaysia Emas Sharia-Malaysia Islamic capital markets to be the most influential across ASEAN-5 countries, while MSCI-Philippine Islamic capital market is the most vulnerable across ASEAN-5 Islamic capital markets.

The overwhelming benefit of Islamic stock market integration across ASEAN-5 countries, and, even in a broader context, awaits further inquiry.

Islamic capital markets across ASEAN-5 countries are integrated regardless of the post-global financial crisis. This contributes to confirming cross-border integration policies, especially for AEC development.

This paper aims to seek to find answers to three questions. First, is there any possibility of long-term cointegration between East and Southeast Asian equity markets? If so, how many cointegrating equations are there? Second, what are the short-term causal relationships between equity markets in East and Southeast Asia? Third, what is the East Asia’s most influential equity market toward their Southeast counterparts, and vice versa?

This study uses Johansen's (1988) cointegration method to test long-run relationships among East and Southeast Asian equity markets. With regards to short-run causal relationships, this study uses Granger-causality test as well as the forecast variance decomposition method.

Johansen test proves that there is cointegration between East and Southeast Asian equity markets, but the integration process is not complete. Cointegrating vector also provides evidence that member countries of ASEAN+3 respond differently to external shocks. With regards to short-run causal direction, this study finds that Japan Granger-causes all equity markets in Southeast Asia, while Singapore and Vietnam Granger-cause all equity markets in East Asia. These results imply that Japan is the market with most linkages in Southeast Asia, while Singapore and Vietnam are the markets with most linkages to East Asia. Furthermore, forecast variance decomposition reveals that Japan is the East Asia’s most influential equity markets, while Singapore is the most influential equity market in Southeast Asia. This study suggests that policymakers in East and Southeast Asian countries to synchronize the capital market standards and regulations as well as to reduce the barriers for capital mobility to spur the regional equity market integration.

Increasing integration of East and Southeast Asian capital markets forces policymakers in ASEAN+3 countries to synchronize monetary policies, as it has been found that regionally integrated capital markets reduce the degree of independent monetary policy (Logue et al., 1976). It is therefore important for policymakers in East and Southeast Asian countries to assess the possibility of stock market integration within this region to anticipate the future risks associated with economic integration as well as to build collective regional institutions (Wang, 2004). Click and Plummer (2005) also argued that integrated stock markets is more efficient than nationally segmented equity markets, and the efficiency of Asian capital markets has been questioned in particular after the 1997 Asian financial crises. Yet, the empirical evidence on the extent of financial integration among ASEAN+3 member countries has been limited and inconclusive. This study is therefore an attempt to investigate the recent development of ASEAN+3 equity markets integration.

This study focuses its attention on the existence and the extent of financial integration in East and Southeast Asia region, and it provides evidence that equity market integration in ASEAN+3 is far from complete, and for that reason, there is a need for policymakers in ASEAN+3 member countries to synchronize their standards and regulations. Furthermore, the policymakers in East and Southeast Asia can gain benefit from this study, as it provides the evidence that ASEAN+3 member countries respond differently to policy shocks, which may hinder the development of regional financial integration as well as the policy effectiveness of region-wide authority in ASEAN+3.

This research is different from previous studies, as it puts the regional financial integration within the context of ASEAN+3 frameworks. Unlike previous research that considers East and Southeast Asian countries as an individual entity, this research considers East and Southeast Asia into two different blocks, following Tourk (2004) who documented that negotiation process for ASEAN+3 financial integration is conducted in sub-regional level (ASEAN vs East Asia), rather than national level (country per country basis). Second, this study covers the period after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. As suggested in Wang (2014), that the degree of stock market integration tends to change around the periods marked by financial crises, the updated study on Asian financial integration in the aftermath of 1997 financial crises is important to document the development of regional financial integration.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) flagship universities in moving the agenda of regional integration forward through academic/research collaboration and cooperation.

Flagship universities are leading universities in the national higher education systems of countries that make up the ASEAN. This study on the ASEAN’s flagship universities is based on a three-pronged strategy, namely, a literature review, analysis of websites contents, and citation of supporting pieces of evidence from other relevant studies to support arguments. Using the QS top universities in Asia 2016 listing, top 70 public universities in ASEAN were selected for investigation. In instances where public universities in a particular ASEAN country were not listed in the QS listing, a premier public university of that country was then selected for investigation.

There is a tendency for ASEAN’s flagship universities to look beyond ASEAN, primarily to establish vertical collaboration, which is important to their efforts in creating their image and enhancing their reputation. As a result, academic/research collaboration among flagship universities and collaboration between these universities and other universities in ASEAN is glaringly on the low side. Interestingly, to move the regional integration agenda in ASEAN, other intermediary agencies outside of ASEAN, such as in the European Union, are very active in providing a platform for both flagship and non-flagship universities to collaborate.

While regional collaboration and cooperation within ASEAN and East Asia have been discussed elsewhere, this paper has utilised and expanded Douglass’ (2016) idea of flagship universities to include regional relevance for the purpose of regional integration of ASEAN.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the prospects of a Southeast Asian knowledge economy in light of regional integration processes and the participation of Southeast Asia in global innovation networks.

The evidence base is a combination of quantitative data on R&D investments, patent applications and publications, with qualitative data from 40 semi-structured expert interviews conducted with innovation experts, research managers and policymakers in six ASEAN Member States.

Despite economic growth and increases in R&D inputs and outputs in individual ASEAN Member States, innovation policy at regional ASEAN level remains weak. In addition, the economic integration of the ASEAN Economic Community is progressing slowly. In this environment, evidence is presented for a certain level of regional integration when it comes to the exploitation of knowledge produced within and outside of ASEAN. While a regional market for knowledge exploitation is conceivable, this is not accompanied by the regional integration of knowledge production.

The main practical implication of this argument is the need for ASEAN policymakers to appreciate the disconnection between regional knowledge production and exploitation. This paper offers conceptual tools to engage in ASEAN-level policy discussions on this issue that can help facilitate the best possible regional outcome.

Despite several studies on the ASEAN Economic Community process, there has been no contribution so far that combines a discussion of the economic integration process with a look at the regional knowledge economy and innovation systems. This perspective does not only contribute to innovation systems literature, but also entails important policy lessons.

The leaders of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced to negotiate a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RECP) in November 2012, which is comprised of 10 ASEAN Member States (Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar) and its six FTA partner countries (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India). Embedded in the ASEAN Charter and implemented in all existing ASEAN + 1 FTAs, the ASEAN Centrality has been a corner stone principle in ASEAN-centric economic initiatives. Emerging discord in the region, complicated security climate and the rise of China, among others, have put the ASEAN Centrality under challenge. The development of the RCEP provides a timely case to assess ASEAN’s leadership role in creating the world’s most populous Free Trade Area. The RCEP may enhance ASEAN’s central role, but ASEAN needs to address challenges facing the regional integration now and beyond 2015. On the country/economy level, the chapter reviews some ASEAN Member States and their FTA Partners how they practice their ASEAN policy and seek leadership role in ASEAN. The three major players in ASEAN-Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia have reiterated the importance of the ASEAN Centrality in their foreign policy in the past, but debates emerge whether, such as in Indonesia, ASEAN Centrality best suits the national interests. The chapter also explores how the major powers, including China and the United States, respond to and collaborate with the group of smaller developing country players.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore market integration among five selected Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) emerging markets (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore) during the pre‐ and post‐1997 financial crisis periods.

Employs two‐step estimation, cointegration and generalized method of moments (GMM).

The study finds that the stock markets in the ASEAN region are cointegrated both during the pre‐ and post‐1997 financial crisis. However, the markets are moving towards a greater integration, particularly during the post‐1997 financial crisis. Finally, as measured by the error correction terms, except the emerging market of Indonesia, all other ASEAN markets appear to be the important bearers of short‐run adjustment to a shock in the long‐run equilibrium relationships in the region both during the pre‐ and post‐crisis periods.

The study only focuses on stock markets of the five founding members of ASEAN, i.e. Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines.

The paper reveals that unlike during the pre‐crisis period, the long‐run diversification benefits that can be earned by investors across the ASEAN markets in the post‐crisis period tend to diminish.

The study is among the first to use two‐step estimation, cointegration and GMM to re‐examine market integration either in the emerging or developed markets.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the economic impact of reducing logistics cost on the demand for port throughput in the context of Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) regional economic integration and to realize the potential economic gains of the maritime logistics reform in the region.

The main part of this paper is to formulate conversion coefficients for containerized cargo to estimate the impacts of logistics reform on the demand for port throughput. These conversion coefficients, then have been used into a dynamic computational general equilibrium model using Global Trade Analysis Project database to explore the impact of logistics cost.

The study demonstrates that logistics efficiency is a challenge for ASEAN economic integration, providing significant implications for maritime logistics reforms.

This study assumes uniform improvements of 5 and 10 percent in the logistics sector for all countries due to lack of detailed data on the logistics sectors in ASEAN countries.

The findings of this study could help ASEAN policymakers for deeper understanding of efficient maritime logistics in realizing the economic gains from its regional economic integration initiatives.

Although there are many descriptive studies on the importance of logistics efficiency in improving international competitiveness in a country or a region, these are not supported by quantitative assessment in the case of ASEAN. This study addresses the dearth of empirical evidence based on real data on trade and maritime cargo flows. This study contributes to highlighting that ASEAN countries should reform their logistics policies and practices.

Regionalisation in education has gained increased interest and importance because of the increasing collaborations among neighbouring nations. Definitions of the term vary, and more so the regionalisation practices and initiatives of higher educational institutions. In the Philippines, the emphasis on regionalisation has become even more pronounced with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Integration Vision. This vision of the ASEAN is geared towards enhancing regional collaboration and the creation of an ASEAN identity and puts education at the forefront, considering it as a strategic objective to achieve the region’s development agenda of economic, social and cultural growth. It becomes of paramount importance then to examine how regionalisation in education is understood by university constituents, its manifestations in terms of institutional activities and especially, how the ASEAN Integration shapes these initiatives and constructions of regionalisation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Using a multiple case study design that looked at three higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines, this study found that regionalisation is associated and interchanged with internationalisation in terms of purpose, goal and activities, but is differentiated in dimensions of geographical location and orientation.

Institutional initiatives pertaining to regionalisation were largely functional and mostly open and soft collaborations. The ASEAN Integration creates an ASEAN-centric consciousness, and functions as an opportunity for expanding partnerships, institutional niches and programmatic initiatives; and for legitimising regionalisation and internationalisation goals.

These definitions and approaches to regionalisation have significant policy implications as HEIs strive to respond to the challenges of the Integration.