This paper investigates trade volatility in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Plus Three (ASEAN+3) and its links with output volatility, export diversification, and free trade agreements. To achieve this research objective, we apply several econometric estimators to data from all ASEAN+3 member states over the period 1990–2016. We first find evidence of a positive relationship between output volatility and trade volatility. Second, we reveal that the way export diversification is measured can influence its impacts on bilateral export volatility. Moreover, the relationship between income volatility, trade volatility, and export diversification seems to depend on country size and the level of economic development.

This paper analytically and graphically explores the characteristics of ASEAN+3's trade and Foreign Direct Investment integration over the 1990~2012 period by applying the tools of network analysis. Our results find evidence that the degree of trade and Foreign Direct Investment integration varies among ASEAN+3 member countries over the observation period. Second, ASEAN+3's intra-regional trade network seems to be more densely connected than its intra-regional Foreign Direct Investment network. Third, we reveal that large and/or advanced countries seem to be better linked and form a subregional bloc of tightly connected economies only in terms of export absolute value. Therefore, ASEAN+3 has been experiencing a widening gap in the trend and patterns of intra-regional trade and Foreign Direct Investment among its member countries at different levels of economic development.

The present paper aims to explore the competition in exports among ASEAN +3 members by applying the export similarity index for the disaggregation export data from 1990 to 2014. We also discuss the changes of comparative advantage of ASEAN + 3's exports through the revealed comparative advantage index (RCA) and its relation with similarity index. The results find that export similarity varies among ASEAN+3 member states over the period 1990-2014. Second, we find evidence of several communities of export competition. In particular, four countries, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Korea, durably show the highest competition level, mainly in the sectors of transistors and telecom equipment. Third, the revealed comparative advantage seems to be the key factor defining the similarity level of exports. Lastly, the revealed comparative advantage analysis allows us to verify the Ricardo's theory and New Trade theory in the context of free trade.

We examine the stock market performance of Vietnam’s listed firms in response to the country’s approval of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Employing an event study methodology, we first calculate the abnormal returns of all listed Vietnamese firms around the CPTPP’s approval date. Then, we attempt to link these abnormal returns to firms’ characteristics. We find evidence that the announcement of the CPTPP’s approval is associated with positive abnormal returns for Vietnam’s listed firms. We also find considerable heterogeneity in the magnitude and pace of the impacts of the CPTPP’s approval on market returns across Vietnam’s two stock exchanges. However, we fail to reject the null hypothesis that the market did not react to the CPTPP’s approval at the sectoral level.