African Regional Integration: Implications for Food Security

This report looks at the African regional trade, regional integration agreements (RIAs) and the implications for food security. An overview is presented on the present state of African regional integration and the determinants of regional trade in agriculture and food commodities. In particular the study focuses on eight target countries, related RIAs and a set of strategic food commodities. The evidence presented in this study shows that African countries have made progress in opening up agriculture and food trade with partner countries. With, the exception of Ghana, Tanzania and Mozambique, the effective applied tariff rates for regional trade partners are substantially lower than the (MFN) rates applied to world trade partners. Nonetheless, regional trade in agriculture and food only increased marginally between 1990 and 2009, and is relatively low in comparison with other developing regions. The weak state of soft and hard infrastructure, rather than high trade tariffs, seem to be the cause of thi

The FTAA and the Location of FDI

The role of regional integration agreements as a determinant of the location of FDI has become an increasingly relevant issue for emerging economies. In Latin America, the largest effects are likely to be associated with the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). In this regard, there are a number of highly relevant questions: For instance, what effect will the FTAA have on FDI from the US and Canada to Latin American countries? How will it affect FDI from the rest of the world? What are the implications for a country such as Mexico, whose referential access to the US may be diluted? Should we expect to see winners and losers, and if so, what determines whether a particular country wins or loses? To address these questions, in this paper we look at the impact of regional integration on FDI, and attempt to derive conclusions regarding the likely impact of the FTAA on countries in Latin America

Regional integration and technology diffusion : the case of the North America free trade agreement

The literature on regional integration agreements (RIAs) is vast and deals with political, economic, and political economy issues. The literature on the economics of RIAs deals mostly with static effects, and concludes that these effects are, in general, ambiguous. So far there has been no empirical analysis of the dynamic effects of RIAs based on their impact on technology diffusion from partner and nonpartner countries. Schiff and Wang's paper is a firstattempt in this direction. The authors examine the impact of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on total factor productivity in Mexico through its impact on trade-related technology transfers from OECD countries. They estimate trade-related technology diffusion by using a measure of trade-related foreign research and development (R&D). Foreign R&D is constructed based on industry-specific R&D in the OECD, OECD-Mexico trade patterns, and input-output relations in Mexico. The authors find that: Mexico's trade with its NAFTA partners had a large and significant impact on Mexico's total factor productivity, while trade with the rest of the OECD did not. Simulating the impact of NAFTA has led to a permanent increase in total factor productivity in Mexico's manufacturing sector of between 5.5 percent and 7.5 percent and to some convergence with the economies of Canada and the United States.Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Trade and Regional Integration,Trade Policy

Challenges and Opportunities of Small Countries for Integration into the Global Economy, as a Case of Mongolia

This paper examines the impacts of globalization on small countries, covering the main features of globalization, the quality of national economic and commercial environment, main characteristics of small countries including important facts and concrete indicators for their development, and their challenges and opportunities for regional integration. It concludes that: 1) globalization is a process of continuing integration of the countries of the world that is beneficial, inevitable and irreversible. No any country can afford to remain isolated from the world economy. 2) some of small countries might have higher income and much richer than others. But all small countries do not posse such an advantage. Therefore, the small countries were in this paper differently considered according to their per capita income level which varies significantly from each others. 3) For most developing countries, in particular the small and poor countries, a North-South Regional Integration Agreement with a large industrial country is likely to be superior to a South-South Regional Integration Agreement with a developing or poor small country. --Globalization,small countries,economic integration,income distribution