Which have been the consequences of the euro for integration and economic performance in the Baltic Sea region? After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the three Baltic states and Poland have been rapidly catching-up with Western Europe. The Great Recession became a great setback for the former,...

Needless to say, it is necessary to study the relative scales of the trade creation effect and the trade diversion effect to evaluate success of ASEAN trade integration and to determine whether or not the intra-bloc trade share is appropriate as an indicator of the progress of reducing...

The South American customs union known as Mercosur has contributed significantly to regional trade liberalization. But by encouraging trade within the group at the expense of trade with nonmembers, Mercosur may limit member countries' access to high-technology imports, an important stimulus to...

The formation of regional production networks (RPNs) is one of the most important drivers of growth in East and Southeast Asia. In view of slowdown in growth and even recession in advanced economies as a result of the adverse impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 and the ongoing European...

We study trade integration among 15 selected Asian and Oceanic economies using factor models. The principal component approach is employed to extract the common factor that drives trade integration from bilateral trade integration series. It is found that the estimated common trade integration...

What can further market integration contribute to growth and employment? A series of hypothetical trade reform scenarios explores what countries at different levels of development can expect to gain from reforming tariffs, non-tariff barriers, trade facilitation and domestic support to...

Trade regionalism, through regional cooperation and integration and in the form of regional trade agreements (RTAs), is rising globally, although Asia has jumped on the bandwagon only recently. Asian economic integration is the second-best approach which Asian countries unfortunately have to...

This paper examines the implications of cross-border component sourcing and production networks for trade competitiveness and welfare. Offshore sourcing of components in which it has comparative disadvantage, enables a country to enhance its comparative advantage in the final product. This...

Regional integration is making steady progress in Africa and a key objective is to improve the prospects for industrialization by expanding the regional market. This paper draws on a combination of trade data analysis and industry case studies to better understand the links and synergies between...

Regional integration in Africa is underway but ongoing progress requires that the gains are widely spread. South Africa's huge regional trade surplus in manufactured goods is already leading to protectionist pressures in neighbouring countries. Agro-processing is a large sector, which is widely...