Co-operation on money and finance: how important? How likely?

Proposals for co-operation on financial and monetary issues figure prominently on the post-crisis regional agenda in Asia. This article shows how initiatives for regional co-operation on financial and monetary issues have evolved from modest beginnings involving Southeast Asian countries in the 1950s to much more ambitious ideas for co-operation on an East Asian basis since 1997. The advantages and feasibility of such co-operation are contested. Both financial and monetary co-operation entail costs, or trade-offs, as well as benefits. At least some forms of regional co-operation, however, appear to offer overall gains for participating countries. Political disputes and co-ordination problems in East Asia could impede potentially beneficial co-operation but such difficulties are not insurmountable.