Regional economic integration

Richard E. Baldwin, Anthony J. Venables

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (Book)Researchpeer-review

294 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This chapter presents details on regional economic integration. It reviews and evaluates some of the voluminous literature, theoretical and applied, on the economic effects of regional integration agreements (RIAs). These effects are organized into three types: allocation effects, accumulation effects, and location effects. The first consists of RIAs' impact on the static allocation of resources, in settings with both perfect and imperfect competition. The second encompasses RIAs' impact on the accumulation of productive factors and covers both medium- and long-run growth effects. The third studies the impact of an RIA on the spatial allocation of resources; this analysis draws on the recent economic geography literature. The chapter also discusses the methods and results of empirical evaluations of RIAs, concentrating on North American free trade area NAFTA and the European community (EC). It also elaborates other issues, including the structure of RIAs and the implications of RIAs for the world trading system.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of International Economics
EditorsG.M. Grossman, K. Rogoff
Pages1597-1644
Number of pages48
Volume3
EditionC
ISBN (Electronic)9780080572109
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 1995
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameHandbook of International Economics
ISSN (Print)1573-4404

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