Theoretical and empirical research suggests that import competition within European markets imposes a major constraint on domestic firms's price-cost margins. The programme for the completion of the European Community's (EC) internal market by 1992 is largely based on the effects expected from a...

The paper analyses the proposal to create a hard core of EU countries committed to deeper and faster integration by studying the economic structure of the proposed grouping. It is divided into two parts. The first examines the relative weight and structural characteristics of the five potential...

It is often alleged that PTAs involving the EC and the US include a significant number of obligations in areas not currently covered by the WTO Agreement, such as investment protection, competition policy, labour standards and environmental protection. The primary purpose of this study is...

Many observers have noted a recent proliferation of regional trade agreements primarily centred in or on Europe. The paper analyses the causes and consequences of EC regionalism. It begins by examining the development and importance of the phenomenon. It finds that although the EC maintains...

This paper uses a standard gravity equation to test the hypothesis of domino effects in Western Europe. The question being addressed is whether increased integration within the EC has impacted negatively on non-members and thereby prompted their application for EC membership. The paper finds...

Thirty years ago, when the Treaty of Rome came into effect, agriculture and manufacturing dominated activity in the European Community (EC). Today, in every member state, services account for more production and employment than agriculture and manufacturing combined. The growing role of services...

Little progress has been made since the creation of the WTO in expanding and deepening the coverage of services liberalization commitments. This paper identifies and discusses five hypotheses that may explain the absence of dynamism: (i) technological changes allow ever more services to be...

Although much has been written recently on the likely impact of 1992 on European economies, relatively little attention has been devoted to the external impact of the internal market. Yet, given the importance of the Community in world trade, the completion of Europe's domestic market could...

During the ‘Golden Age’ that lasted until the mid-1970s, Europe witnessed a "public finance" phase, when the three sides of Musgrave’s triangle - allocative efficiency, redistribution and cyclical stabilisation - seemed to reinforce one another. EMU's fiscal rules - embodied in the...

The paper analyses the debate on the relationship between trade liberalization and the harmonization of social policies in the context of European integration. It is divided into two parts. The first shows that harmonization of social policies was not imposed in the 1960s and 1970s as a...