Is actually small but rising, the trade bias approach would lead one to conclude that it is fairly large but falling.
Third, we might consider the ‘structure’ of output and exports, under the assumption that greater similarity suggests greater macroeconomic symmetry and, hence, each country would be susceptible (and would wish to react similarly) to the same types of economic shocks. Trends in Thailand and Malaysia and Malaysia are similar in this regard: over the 1960-1984 period (Kose, Kim, and Plummer 2000). 1999, the share of industry, agriculture, and services in output were almost exactly the same in Malaysia and Thailand.
Finally, it is possible to consider symmetry of economic structures by focusing on the correlation of business cycles, an exercise that was used frequently in the case of European countries wishing to join in monetary union. The correlation of macroeconomic variables throughout the business cycle permit us to examine the degree to which countries exhibit common responses to international trends and shocks. Using a first-difference filter, one finds that the correlation of the business cycles in Thailand and Malaysia has increased substantially: over the 1960-1996 period, the correlation was 0.35; over 19985-1996 (i.e., the new period of economic liberalisation), the correlation almost doubled to 0.66 (Kose, Kim, and Plummer 2000). It is also noteworthy that each country’s growth correlation with Asia in general also increased substantially over this period and was even greater than the bilateral correlation estimation in both period (rising to over 0.70 for each country). This suggests that there is evidence of increasing symmetry of the economies of Thailand and Malaysia at the macroeconomic level.