This easy-to-use student text examines the rise of the importance of the Asia-Pacific as an economic region, the sources of that growth, its future development and the consequences for the global economy. The chapters establish the extent to which the Asia-Pacific has developed as a regional system through an analysis of the patterns of integration of the principal economies. The volume reflects on the relationship between the key individual economies of Japan, Korea, China and the United States, and the rest of the regional economy. The book also discusses the consequences of this dynamic regional economy on the performance and governance of the international economic system. Grahame Thompson The Open University; Partha Gangopadhyay University of Western Sydney; Ajit Singh University of Cambridge; Lucie Cheng University of California; Ping-ch