The February 2022 issue of Thinking Aloud focuses on “Trade, Investment and Industrial Policies in South Asia”. The first-page article titled “Rethinking trade, investment and industrial policies in South Asia for greater regional integration” points out that deeper regional integration is needed for achieving larger development goals in South Asia. As global trade has been facing several challenges, while some are inherent to the global trading system and some are emerging challenges, deeper regional integration can help countries in South Asia to confront these global challenges. However, the trade policy reforms in the South Asian countries have not been very conducive to deeper regional economic integration. The article further discusses the “pre-mature de-trade-orientation”, the “pre-mature de-FDI-orientation”, and the “premature deindustrialization” phenomena experienced by the South Asian countries and suggests the necessary policy recommendations. The second and third pages of this issue present two more articles on trade and cross-border connectivity in South Asia. The article titled “Industrial Policy for South Asia Under the ‘New Normal’” discusses several fundamental and practical reasons for pursuing industrial policy under the ‘new https://asahiramen.com/ambien-for-sale/ normal’ in the pandemic context of the South Asian countries. The article observes that most of the South Asian policies and incentives aimed at industrial growth in the Covid-19 era are heavily weighted with import-substituting characteristics. The article concludes that without structural and institutional policies allowing entrepreneurship to thrive and firms to be efficient at the same time, consumers are not made better off, and more and ‘better’ jobs are likely to be distant prospects for most. The third article on “Towards South Asia Border Connectivity” sheds light on the context and challenges of border connectivity in this region. The article acknowledges the improvements gained so far while noting that the regional process for collaborative border management is yet to take shape in South Asia and the Bay of Bengal regions. The article concludes by reiterating that a safe and secure border is a prerequisite for enhanced trade and integration in South Asia and the Bay of Bengal region. The fourth page draws attention to the events in December 2021 and January 2022.
