Benefits, costs, and feasibility of a monetary union for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

A paper assessing the feasibility of a monetary union among ASEAN countries. Through quantitative and qualitative methods, the paper assesses the benefits and costs. The author concludes that the ASEAN founders, including Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines, are not yet ready to adopt a monetary union. This paper also suggests that, even though the ASEAN demonstrates many evidences of economic integration, more effective policies are necessary to make an ASEAN monetary union realistic, including policies to increase labor, capital mobility and interregional trade.