To understand the reasons for the formation of regional economic groupings two basic concepts are introduced: association and dissociation. Moreover, the importance of interest groups and strategic groups is discussed, and security and bargaining power as basic political motivations are...

Border regions and border effects currently attract a lot of attention in political practice and economic research. Substantial interest in regions located along the frontiers of integrating countries is predominantly inspired by the presumption that their specific geographic position might...

Gängige Indikatoren zur empirischen Erfassung des Phänomens Globalisierung sind Indikatoren der ökonomischen Integration, beispielsweise der Offenheitsgrad im Außenhandel. Die Validität dieser sowie vom Autor alternativ vorgeschlagener Indikatoren zur Messung des Globalisierungsniveaus wird...

We document significant and robust empirical relationships in cross-country panel data between government size or social expenditure on the one hand, and trade and financial development indicators on the other. Across countries, deeper economic integration is associated with more intense...

Positive integration among states, defined as the correction of negative externalities from liberalisation, is generally assumed to be very difficult to achieve on the European level, let alone on the international or global level. The political transaction costs of achieving positive...

Chinas Wirtschaft wächst seit Jahren außerordentlich kräftig. Obwohl das Bruttoinlandsprodukt pro Kopf mit etwa 1 100 US-Dollar im internationalen Vergleich noch relativ gering ist, wird das Land heute als einer der wichtigsten "global player" betrachtet. Dazu haben neben der geographischen...

This paper aims at assessing the role of the United States in the global economy and its evolution over time. The emergence of large economic players, like China, is likely to have weakened the role of the U.S. economy as a driver of global growth. Based on a Global VAR modelling approach, this...

This paper critically assesses the literature on the relationship between economic integration and the environment. In particular, we investigate how trade liberalisation and capital market integration affect environmental policy and thus environmental quality. Conversely, we also study how...