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...

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...

This paper explores quantitatively the nexus between GDP growth and the two components of total exports, focusing particularly on the role of services exports in developing and transition countries. The Introduction exposes some of the shortcomings and methodological problems affecting BOP...

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...

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....

In recent years most studies analyzing cross-country convergence have ignored the role of international trade, simply framing the analysis in a Solow world. These models then have very limited power in explaining the economic growth of East Asia, given that East Asian integration is largely due...

This paper explores the growth implications of regional integration. From the theory, it identifies the ‘footprints’ that such growth should leave in the data. It then checks the data on the four poor EU nations for such footprints. Prima facie evidence for Ireland, Portugal and Spain...

This paper empirically determines the main factors influencing trade flows between the European Union and the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe. The analysis relies on the estimation of gravity-type equations for both exports and imports. Besides the basic variables that are...