Regional Cooperation, Infrastructure, and Trade Costs in Asia

International trade has played an essential role in Asia’s remarkable growth, development, and integration in recent decades. Infrastructure, both hard and soft, has played an integral part in facilitating that trade, primarily through reducing the associated transaction costs. Regional coordination and cooperation can help to reduce negative externalities from trade and to capitalize more fully on positive spillover effects. This study explores the nexus between Asia’s trade flows and patterns, trade costs and how they are influenced by infrastructure development, and the role of regional cooperation in facilitating trade’s contribution to economic integration. A virtuous circle between growth, infrastructure investment, trade expansion, and regional integration is elucidated.