Protection of the Single Market, monetary integration, institutional and pol - icy reform, as well as enlargement are hot topics in the European Union. This article considers only the economic dimension of the enlargement. Five coun - tries with economies in transition (the Czech Republic,...

This study identifies income convergence in Europe over 1960 to 2012. The Great Recession since 2008 reversed the GDP per capita convergence in the EU-15, but the extransition countries have mostly continued to catch up. We found this by analysing the Sigma convergence of GDP per capita in the...

Accompanying the wave of liberalization in motion since the mid 1980s, trade complementarity and its underlying structure of comparative advantage have started to dictate the directions of international trade flows. The vibrant FDIexport- led Asian growth has revealed the role of FDI as a...

The paper examines Greek external trade following accession to the EU, placing emphasis on the 1990s. Using original disaggregated data we find: (i) Mutually offsetting, stable trade creation/trade diversion in imports from EU and third countries respectively. (ii) No EU effect on exports. These...

The GCC region has recently witnessed the creation of a customs union between the countries of the region as well as the signature of many free trade areas with countries/blocs outside the region (i.e. US and EU). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of trade of the GCC...

Using the clustering analysis and gravity model, this paper investigates the evolution of likely trade-bloc phenomenon for the textile industry and the automatic data processing industry for the last three decades. For the textile industry, a significant two-bloc phenomenon could be identified,...

Currently, the European Union is negotiating an free trade agreement, called Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), with Caribbean countries as part of the Cotonou Agreement between the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. The paper empirically assesses the impact of the...

In this paper we apply the gravity model to provide empirical evidence of market-driven trading blocs in East Asia for the period from 1980 to 2000. Special attention is paid on the role of mainland China’s openness in shaping East Asia’s trade pattern. Several trading blocs are empirically...

This paper assesses the potential effects from trade facilitation in terms of increased trade flows both on average and specifically for the six regional groups of ACP countries negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU. Data from the World Bank’s Doing Business Database...

The present study proposes an updated and extended quantitative assessment of the EU-South Korea FTA, through a new version of MIRAGE CGE model. Several distinctive contributions are offered. Firstly, the quantitative assessment takes into account non-tariff barriers (NTBs) as well as tariffs....