FDI Activities and Integration in ASEAN and East Asia

This chapter examines foreign direct investment (FDI) activities and investment integration in Asia, focusing on Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. To do so, it makes use of the FDI literature on linkages, spillovers, the global value chain, the network economy, and FDI’s impact on economic growth. The chapter also discusses the development of ASEAN’s investment institutions such as the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Area, which builds upon frameworks adopted in the 1980s and 1990s, and falls within ASEAN’s larger ASEAN Economic Community endeavor. The chapter also puts forth various recommendations to promote investment integration in the East Asian region.

This piece originally appeared as Shandre Mugan Thangavelu, Shujiro Urata, and Dessie Tarko Ambaw, “FDI activities and integration in ASEAN and East Asia,” In: Fukunari Kimura, Mari Pangestu, Shandre M. Thangavelu, and Christopher Findlay, eds., Handbook on East Asian Economic Integration (UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021), pp. 88-109. Copyright remains with the original holder.