Trade, growth and economic inequality in the Asia-Pacific region

This policy brief is intended to provide policymakers with a summary of the results of our research project entitled “Trade, Growth and Economic Inequality in the Asia-Pacific Region”, which explores and documents the linkages between international trade and inequality in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR).The project’s eleven research papers appeared in a special issue of the Journal of Asian Economics in February 2017. Overall, we conclude that the relationships between international trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), economic growth and inequality are extremely complicated, so no single theory should be relied upon for policy guidance across all APR countries with their varying stages of development and unique characteristics. Our studies find some evidence that trade or FDI contribute to inequality, some evidence that it reduces inequality and some evidence of no causal relationship.