The common central bank of a monetary union tends to lead a more accommodative monetary policy in order to avoid the default of the moderately indebted member countries whereas the most hardly indebted countries have to default. The optimal inflation rate increases the more numerous are the...

Adherents to the “natural trading partner” hypothesis argue that forming a PTA is more likely to raise welfare if member countries already trade disproportionately with each other. Opponents of the hypothesis claim that the opposite is true: welfare is likely to be higher if member countries...

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...

East Asian countries have experienced dynamic structural change in regional trade during the 1990s. While intra-regional trade rapidly progressed within the region after the financial crisis, Asia accounts for a large portion of inter-regional trade volume, even after the crisis. In this paper,...

Recent literature has emphasized the importance of transaction costs and infrastructure in explaining trade, access to markets, and regional cooperation under globalization. For most Asian countries, transaction costs are a greater barrier to trade integration than import tariffs. By estimating...

In this paper, we investigate how market integration affects firms’ technology choices. Although market integration encourages cost-reducing research and development (R&D) investments in many cases, it may discourage it in two cases: (1) when market sizes are quite different and the effects of...

A new cooperation Agreement has been signed between the European Union and the 77 ACP Countries in Cotonou (Benin) on June 23rd 2000. A point of this agreement is regarding a new trade cooperation between these different countries in districts (or regions) gathered and the European Union, based...

The world trade order is undergoing transformation into a tripartite trading system owing to the growing regionalism in East Asia. East Asia has become progressively integrated as a trading bloc through intensified intra-regional trade. A powerful engine for this integration is concentrated FDI...

The paper studies the effects of regional integration on the incentives of mem - bers and non-members to undertake multilateral trade liberalization. Using a three- country political economy model with imperfect competion, it shows how regionalism can undermine support for multilateralism....