Peter Gallagher

The point is that the ben­e­fits of eco­nomic inte­gra­tion over time far out­weigh the costs. Sin­ga­pore might be headed for minus 5 per­cent growth this year due to the very high share of exports (of trade ser­vices among other things) in its national accounts. But, like the rest of Asia, it has enjoyed double-digit year-on-year export growth for much of the last decade. Whose future is more bank­able in a reces­sion? Economies with a high trade-to-GDP ratio or iso­lated, ‘basket-case’ economies (like North Korea or Laos or Moldova)?