The Drive to Economic Integration in Africa

In Africa there has been an immense effort in the past, continuing into the present, to unite politically and to build numerous economic integration areas. In this paper we discuss the reasons for the existence of this phenomenon in Africa which we call the drive to political and economic integration. Some conventional explanations are discussed. Our own explanation is based on the theory of bureaucracy and the imbalances emerging in the process of development. If Africa is ready for regional economic integration, it has to follow another path to this end: The path of centric integration.Economic Integration, Union, Bureaucracy, Centric Integration, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, F15, P16, O18, O55,

European integration: what lessons for other regions? The case of Latin America

This paper tests for the hypothesis that institutional integration interacts with economic integration at the regional level. In particular, we ask what lessons can be drawn from the European experience with regional integration for Latin America. Several indicators of institutional and economic integration for both the EU and Latin America are presented. We find that Latin America is currently less economically integrated not only than the European Union today, but in some cases even than the EU at the beginning of its regional integration process. A cluster analysis illustrates that the link between institutional and economic integration has worked both ways throughout the whole EU experience. The more institutional integration went beyond the creation of a customs union and moved towards a common market and an economic and monetary union, the deeper economic integration turned out. Increasing economic integration in turn corroborated and sustained the process of institutional integration. JEL Classification: E42, F15, F33, F41intra-regional exchange rate variability, Regional integration in Europe and Latin America

Economic Integration and Location of Manufacturing Activities: Evidence from Mercosur

Economic integration leads to a reallocation of resources across sectors and space. Location patterns resulting from North-North and North-South regional trade initiatives have been documented in several studies. However, empirical evidence on South-South agreements is rather limited. In this respect, MERCOSUR provides an interesting case study. This paper aims at answering the following questions: What are the main driving factors explaining location patterns in the Southern Cone? To what extent has the establishment of MERCOSUR affected location of economic activities? Using data for the period 1985-1998, we identify the determinants of manufacturing location patterns and assess their changes in the context of increased economic integration. We find that preferential trade liberalization has fostered the influence of factors underlined by the recent trade theories, such as economies of scale and input-output linkages, relative to comparative advantage considerations. Keywords: Economic Integration, Location of Industrial Activities, MERCOSUR JEL-Classification: F14, F15, L60

Integration, Regional Specialization and Growth Differentials in EU Acceding Countries: Evidence from Hungary

This paper investigates the impact of market integration on regional production structures and regional growth differentials in Hungary over the period 1994-2000. Our analysis indicates a relocation of manufacturing towards border regions, in particular towards regions bordering the European Union. On average, regional manufacturing specialization increased. We find a positive relationship between knowledge spillovers proxyed with a measure of foreign direct investment intensity and regional growth as well as between regional manufacturing specialization and regional growth. The change in regional specialization is also positively related to regional growth. Our empirical results show that on average, other things equal, high growth rates are associated with high initial levels of GDP per capita. This finding shows up even when controlling for regional economic structures, change in manufacturing specialization, the degree of openness and geographical proximity to western markets. Our research suggests that in the first stage of market integration divergence forces tend to prevail leading to relative winners and losers across space. Key words: Economic integration, Location of economic activity, Regional growth JEL Classification: F15, R11, R12

Economic Integration Geography and Growth: A theoritical Analysis

Economic integration plays an important role in trade, in knowledge diffusion and in economic growth. However, this role depends on the geographical distance between countries. The purpose of this paper is to study the geographical distance effects on the advantages of economic integration. To do so we extend the Romer and Rivera Batiz (1991) model by adding the distance between countries. Our main findings are: in the presence of the geographical distance effects (i) the growth rate does not double compared to autarky as in the Romer and Rivera Batiz model, ii) the share of human capital allocated to research sectors increases and (iii) the growth rate in centralized equilibrium is lower than that in decentralized equilibrium. Keywords: Economic integration; Geographical distance; Spillovers; Economic growth. JEL Classification Codes: F15 , F43, O3

Emerging Asia’s growth and integration: how autonomous are business cycles?

Against the background of the rapid integration of emerging Asia into the global economy, this paper investigates the role of domestic and external factors in driving individual emerging economies in Asia. We estimate VAR models for ten countries over the period 1979Q1- 2003Q4, controlling for external factors, and use sign restrictions to identify structural domestic shocks. Variance decompositions indicate that Asian emerging economies are to a large part driven by external developments, and even more so employing a more recent sample. We analyse to what extent structural domestic shocks exhibit a regional dimension by comparing shocks across countries using correlation and principal component analysis. The extent of regional co-movement between structural shocks is relatively limited. While the principal components analysis indicates a moderate increase in co-movement over time, the correlation analysis finds a decline. This may reflect a broadening of regional integration at the expense of bilateral economic ties. JEL Classification: F15, F02, F41Economic integration, International Business Cycles, sign restrictions, structural shocks

The Impact of Optimal Tariffs and Taxes on Agglomeration

This paper extends an economic geography model by tariffs to analyze their impact on welfare and sustainability of agglomerations. Policies with and without cooperation are compared, with the goal of maximizing aggregated welfare in the former and regional welfare in the latter case. The main result is that under cooperation poorer regions are worse off in two respects. In the short-run they loose even more welfare and in the long-run sustainable agglomerations in richer regions get more likely. Thus, although cooperation could generate aggregated welfare gains the potential losers face even in the short-run no incentive to remove tariffs unless they are compensated appropriately, for instance by transfers. In this sense transfers from the rich to the poor are not only a policy to reach the goal of equity but also a necessary precondition to reach aggregated efficiency.optimal tariffs, optimal taxation, policy coordination, economic geography, economic integration, Political Economy, F13, H21, F42, R12, F15,

Liberalising EU Imports for Fruits and Vegetables

This paper quantifies the impact of abolishing EU import barriers with respect to fruits and vegetables for sixteen fruits and vegetables. The estimations made are based on HORTUS, a supply and demand model for fruits and vegetables developed at LEI. HORTUS models the production, consumption and bilateral trade in fruits and vegetables for all EU25-countries, Morocco, Turkey and the Rest of the World. The paper shows that trade liberalisation has a large impact on European fruit production and trade. EU fruit production and exports are likely to fall substantially. European vegetable production and exports are relatively sheltered and are likely to benefit from the decline in EU fruit production.trade liberalisation, economic integration, fruits and vegetables, International Relations/Trade, F15, F17, Q17,

Is OBOR by China fundamental to Human Progress? A non traditional viewpoint

Abstract. This is a short note that gives a non- traditional view point of One Belt One Road (OBOR) plan by China by suggesting that it is not about Chinese efforts of supremacy on other lands but a prediction of human cognition that seem to suggest that OBAR may well be a step towards creating an intricate balance for the eco system of this planet.Keywords. Economic integration, Political history, Applied cognition.JEL. F15, F36, F50

DEVELOPMENT OF INTEGRATION PROCESSES WITHIN THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION

Trade and investment cooperation is one of important direction within the Shanghai Organization of Cooperation reveal. The special attention is given a interests of China in expanding its economic interests in Central Asia. The paper describes the potential for further trade and investment involvement of China to cooperation with other parties of the international organization.Regional integration, trade cooperation, Central Asia, China, International Development, International Relations/Trade, F15, F59,