This paper sets out to disprove the German philosopher Hegel's dictum about people learning nothing from history, by looking at the lessons to be learned for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) from the European Union's experience of regional integration. Since its foundation in...

"Richard Pomfret documents European integration since WWII, showing that today's European Union is the product less of master planning than of responses to political and economic challenges. Nevertheless, the EU emerges as a world-historic achievement in cross-border cooperation, with a bright...

This paper addresses two main questions: (a) Has European integration hindered the implementation of labour, financial and product market structural reforms? (b) Do the effects of these reforms vary more across sectors than across countries? Using more granular reform measures, longer time...

We use a quantitative model to study the implications of European integration for welfare and migration flows across 1,318 regions. The model suggests that an increase of trade barriers to the level of 1957 reduces welfare by about 1-2 percent on average, depending on the presumed trade...