...ECIPE OCCasIOnal PaPEr • no. 2/2010 REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN ASIA: THE TRACK RECORD AND PROSPECTS By Razeen Sally Razeen Sally (razeen.sally@ecipe.org) is Director of ECIPE and on the faculty of the London School of Economics www.ecipe.org info@ecipe.org Rue Belliard 4-6, 1040 Brussels, Belgium Phone +32 (0)2 289 1350 ECIPE OCCASIONAL PAPER ExECuTIvE SuMMARy This is the season for regional-integration initiatives in Asia. There is talk of region-wide FTAs, and there are east-Asian initiatives on financial and monetary cooperation. But grand visions for Asian regional blocs are not achievable. Regional economic integration is most developed in east Asia, but only because of manufacturing supply chains linked to global markets. South Asia is the most malintegrated region in the world. And east and south Asia are much less integrated in finance than they are in trade and FDI – due to highly restrictive national policies governing financial markets. Asia’s existing FTAs are “trade light”. They are largely limited to tariff cuts, but have barely tackled non-tariff regulatory barriers in goods, services and investment, and are bedevilled by complex rules of origin requirements. An APEC FTA initiative has gone nowhere – entirely predictable given such a large, heterogeneous grouping. An east-Asian or a pan-Asian FTA, by discriminating against third countries, would compromise regional production networks linked to global supply chains. Moreover, huge economic...
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...Regional Integration for and Against Articles Mark Drury 445 March 9, 2011 Dr. Paul Mahajan Regional Integration for and Against Articles A trade bloc can be defined as a preferential trade agreement between two countries and is designed to significantly reduce trade barriers between the two countries. The integration of countries into trade blocs is commonly referred to as “regionalism” and it does not matter if the trade bloc has a geographical basis or not. They first started in the 1930’s. The main trade blocs of the world are: (1) in Europe, the European Union (EU), the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA), the European Agreements, and the European Economic Area (EEA); (2) with the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUSTA), and the US-Israel Free Trade Agreement; (3) in Latin America, the Common Market of the South Latin American Integration Association (LAIA), and the Caribbean Community and Common Market(CARICOM) (Jones, 2010) Trade blocs are good because they remove trade barriers between countries. They also regulate the price and trade terms of trade between the two countries. Trade blocs also have a positive impact on welfare if they are more trade creating and less trade diverting. “George Orwell predicted that trade blocs would evolve into continent-spanning empires with ever-changing alliances. The eastward expansion of the EU and use of the Euro, southern expansion of NAFTA into the...
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...reduction Regional integRation and Human development: a patHway foR afRica Regional integration and Human development: a pathway for africa april 2011 copyright © april 2011 united nations development programme Bureau for development policy 304 East 45th Street new york, ny 10017 u.S.A. E-mail: poverty.reduction@undp.org Website: www.undp.org/poverty disclaimer the views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily representthose of the united nations, including undp, or their Member States. taBle of contents Content Page 2 3 7 9 9 9 12 13 14 14 15 15 18 20 24 25 27 27 31 31 31 36 36 38 38 41 43 46 48 48 49 53 55 57 59 60 63 68 84 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations Executive Summary Introduction 1. regional economic integration and human development 1.1. conceptual linkages 1.1.1 Income 1.1.2 Access to services 1.1.3 Empowerment 1.1.4 Sustainability 1.2. contextual factors 2. the context for African regional integration 2.1. Geographical fragmentation 2.2. capacities, institutions and domestic policies 2.3. climate, nutrition and health 2.5. the environment and common resources 2.6. Should Africa look outward, inward, or both? 3. Estimating the impact of regional integration in Africa 3.1 Estimating the scope and benefits of integration 3.2 the modeling of integration 3.2.1 the regional, continental and global integration paths i) regional and continental integration paths ii) Global integration paths 3...
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...Regional Integration Ashleigh Addis MGT/448 April 10, 2013 Christy Vasconcellos Introduction Regional integration is achieved when two or more nation states enter into a regional agreement usually for economic or political purposes. The primary objective for regional integration is to help nations to overcome any trading hurdles or political problems that could potentially arise. These problems could be linked to the countries government, economy, and geographic layout. There are many different countries that have made some type of an agreement with another country. In North America, regional integration among America, Canada, and Mexico has had both advantages and disadvantages. The NAFTA, which was first established in 1992 but did not become officially until 94, has become an important part of all three countries. Although all three countries have benefited from the NAFTA, this paper will cover the advantages and disadvantages it has had on Mexico. Advantages of the NAFTA It is safe to say that for the most part the NAFTA has been primarily a blessing for Mexico. A huge advantage for Mexico is the boost it has had on them economically. NAFTA decreased tariffs; essentially meaning that the exports and imports from Mexico increased due to the lower taxes. The NAFTA created many jobs for the people of Mexico. With the increase of jobs, came an increase in wages. The NAFTA is the largest free trade and creates more than $17 trillion in goods and services produced by...
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...Regional Integration against Articles Christian Frisina MGT448 April 16, 2012 Greg Worden NAFTA, stands for North American Free Trade Agreement but who does it represent and what does it accomplish and who does it affect. NAFTA is a union of sorts that links Canada, the United States and Mexico together. The disadvantages of this agreement are diverse and, not purposefully intended. Being knowledgeable of how these pertain to the people will be for reference only because any disagreement can be preventatively fixed or can be fixed through future renegotiations. NAFTA was designed with great intentions in mind but has had severe issues with follow through and consistency. As fair as NAFTA was intended, the agreement did not consider future issues with employment, the environment and pollutants, and other country dependencies upon each other. Concerning employment for Canadian citizens, with the joining of NAFTA Canadian jobs will be lost when plants and factories start to move to the United States. NAFTA promised employment increases to every country within, yet it has slowly dwindled over the years. Instead of increasing, Canada has lost 398, 837 jobs ever since NAFTA began, from 1994 to 2001 ("Why Is Nafta Bad For Canada?", 2008). Another serious concern is the fact that the environment is being destroyed at an alarming rate becoming toxic waste dumps. This is mainly due to weaker countries with weaker environmental laws being taken...
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...Disadvantages of Regional Integration Southeastern Asian countries have made a significant achievement in social and economic development during the past two decades of renovations. The road to success was not always smooth, and although regional integration presents many benefits, there are several disadvantages to that approach. The below analysis will reflect on few of them to present the main challenges in developing countries integrated under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Disadvantages of Regional Integration Today’s business world perceives regional integration as a positive outcome for countries within geographical region. As with every aspect there are several disadvantages to regional and economical integration. Countries switch to tariff free imports of same goods, but the tariffs on goods from the outside remain. As a result economists notice a less efficient use of resources. Oftentimes, the goods produced within the region are of a much lower quality than those imported from the outside. In political aspect, governments loose tax revenue from a tariff free trading. Significant amount of revenue comes into the country’s government from import tariffs. Removal of them causes decrease in available capital. The effect on government’s spending programs could have a further negative impact on country’s development (Openbook, 2011). Other challenges with regional integration include: equality between members, ways...
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...RETHINKING THE (EUROPEAN) FOUNDATIONS OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION: A POLITICAL ECONOMY ESSAY by Peter Draper Research area: African Economic Outlook September 2010 Working Paper No. 293 Rethinking the (European) Foundations of Sub-Saharan African Regional Economic Integration: A Political Economy Essay DEV/DOC(2010)10 2 © OECD 2010 DEVELOPMENT CENTRE WORKING PAPERS This series of working papers is intended to disseminate the Development Centre’s research findings rapidly among specialists in the field concerned. These papers are generally available in the original English or French, with a summary in the other language. Comments on this paper would be welcome and should be sent to the OECD Development Centre, 2 rue André Pascal, 75775 PARIS CEDEX 16, France; or to dev.contact@oecd.org. Documents may be downloaded from: http://www.oecd.org/dev/wp or obtained via e-mail (dev.contact@oecd.org). THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED AND ARGUMENTS EMPLOYED IN THIS DOCUMENT ARE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AUTHOR AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THOSE OF THE OECD OR OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF ITS MEMBER COUNTRIES ©OECD (2010) Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this document should be sent to rights@oecd.org CENTRE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT DOCUMENTS DE TRAVAIL Cette série de documents de travail a pour but de diffuser rapidement auprès des spécialistes dans les domaines concernés les résultats des travaux de recherche du Centre...
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...Executive Summary One of recently formed regional groups was the ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nations) that comprises of 10 nations together. Together they are performing an important part in the global economy. With their increasing growth and continued togetherness the ASEAN’s presence is being recognized on the world map. East Asia is proving to be one of the world’s highly dynamic and fastest growing regions. These export driven economies are vast and hence required to develop an understanding of their model of business operation. My report gives information on the history on formation and emphasizes on the trading and integration between these ten economies that are members that forms the ASEAN to bring about a common platform in terms of fields like trading, manufacturing, finance and so on. The purpose of the report is to evaluate ASEAN’s formation and to view the possible favorable and unfavorable conditions. The different factors, the benefits of the integration and its limitations are described in the report below. With respect to my findings and details in the report through different sources on the internet, I feel that the formation ASEAN has benefited these countries and in turn helped them to make their mark in the global market place that is day by day becoming cost oriented. Introduction A regional integration is a method where in different states put into place an agreement to help develop cooperation through regional rules and institutions. The aim of...
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...ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION The academic literature on regionalism covers the contributions of economics, international relations and international political economy. Typical questions asked by these disciplines in the regionalism literature are summarized in Table 3. There is not space in this paper to pursue all of these questions. We focus on the contributions of economists who investigate the potential and actual economic impacts of forming regions. Economists’ analysis of regions begins with the classic theory of customs unions formulated by Viner, Meade and others and has been developed more recently in the context of imperfect competition (see Baldwin, 1997 for an accessible overview on which we draw in this section, as well as the recent volume by Schiff and Winters (2003) which summarizes the results of World Bank research on regional integration and development). This traditional theory is contrasted with the ‘developmental regionalism’ espoused by some theorists concerned with developing countries and still dominant among those concerned with African regionalism. With the trend towards deeper integration, we summarize the emerging literature on the gains from integrating services trade and from regulatory integration. The lessons for developing countries from the literature surveyed are summarized in conclusion. Table 3 - Debates about regionalism Motivation -why do regions come into being?Structure - what form do regions take, and why do they take...
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...Regional Integration for and Against (For)- The ECOWAS is The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded in 1975. Its mission is to promote economic integration in development strategies of the countries ("Discover Ecowas", 2007). Some economic changes would include agriculture, natural resources, and telecommunications. Advantages are regional economic integration plays an important role in the economic process and property development in West Africa. The availability of job production will increase with better economic opportunities that could be limited without access to modern energy. Energy is an important part of the system that allows the poor to grow beyond, which will generate and increase their demand for modern energy services. Increasing foreign direct investment will increase competition among poverty stricken countries around the world. They would need to gain environmental, and social economical use of resources. Market growth will promote larger specialization and quicker industry through economies of scale. The development in domestic and foreign direct investment will increase competition of the region within the world economy. Speedy and in depth improvement through increased competition among the collaborating countries will enhance incentives for the readying of recent technologies and strategies of production aboard speedy innovation. Greater regional co-operation in infrastructure comes like energy...
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...Regional Integration for and Against Articles University of Phoenix MGT-448 Stephen D. Julias, III April 2, 2011 Abstract Regional integration has been around for a long time. A definition is not easily formulated. Ordinarily the term refers to the integration of a nation of states into a larger collection. Regional integration can be described on one hand, as a vital method that requires a country’s eagerness to contribute to or unite into a larger whole. The extent of which the country shares and what the country shares establishes the level of integration. The different levels of integration are dependent on a predefined criterion. The descriptions of levels are the advantages and disadvantages of regional integration and how the stage for economic development relates to a potential business opportunity. The Advantage NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an economic, international trade treaty connecting three nations that inhabit the North American continent (Canada, Mexico, and the United States) that began in 1994. NAFTA is designed to remove various trade barriers between Canada, Mexico, and the United States as well as a reduction or elimination of numerous tariffs and nontariff barriers. NAFTA is exceptional in that it has created the foremost regional integration agreement linking two highly developed countries, the United States and Canada, and a developing country, Mexico. Export opportunities have grown under NAFTA because of the tariffs...
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...Regional Integration for and Against Articles * Regional Integration for and Against Articles * En el siguiente escrito luego de escoger una región y un bloque comercial dentro de la misma, se identificaraa como esta región actua a favor de la integración regional y en contra. Se describe las ventajas y las desventajas de la integración regional y la relación de la etapa de desarrollo económico de la región, económicamente integrada a potenciales oportunidades de negocios. * Canada es una región dentro del bloque comercial “North American Free Trade Agreement” (NAFTA) o Tratado de Libre de Comercio de America del Norte (TLCAN). Este acuerdo eliminoo la mayoría de las tarifas entre los productos exportados de Estados Unidos, Canada y Mejico. Existen restricciones en muchas categorías, estas incluyen vehículos, computadoras, textiles y agricultura, en adicion, este tratado protege los derechos de propiedad tales como patentes, derechos de autor y marcas comerciales. Este acuerdo describe la eliminación de restricciones a la inversión entre los tres países. * Este entro en vigor el 1 de enero de 1994 y entre sus objetivos esta el facilitar la circulación de productos y servicios entre los países, la creación de procedimientos para la aplicación y el cumplimiento del tratado. * La integración regional en términos estructurales, se refiere a unas ventajas que aplican a todo bloque comercial entre diferentes países. La primera se relaciona...
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...Regional Integration for and Against Articles Introduction The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an agreement between the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. The agreement creates rules in the trade block and it was established in 1994. The goal of the agreement is remove or decrease the tariffs and non-tariffs barriers to stimulate trade. The NAFTA agreement included: * Removing all tariffs on 99 percent of the good by 2004. * Protection of intellectual property * Removal of most foreign direct investments with a few protections established for each country * Removal of barriers on the cross-border flow of service * Application of national environmental standard * Establishing two commissions with the power to impose fines and remove trade privileges if needed Regional integration is not only for economical reasons but it is also political. There is much opposition within each country and it takes many years to have an agreement that satisfies ever member country. Pros and Cons for NAFTA Advantages The main purpose for NAFTA is to create a larger and more efficient base for the entire North American region. The first advantage for the members of NAFTA was to reduce the tariffs that had been imposed in all their products. The cost of the products is also controlled in member nations of NAFTA since the import cost are not inflated by taxes. Lastly, the benefit is mutual for US and Canada to move production to Mexico. The...
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...Regional Integration for and Against Articles MGT/448 2014 Regional Integration for and Against Articles Regional Integration Trade blocs are agreements to help reduce trade barriers between participating states, regions, or countries ("trade bloc," 2014). The concept of regional economic integration takes the trade bloc concept and centers it into different regions on the globe. Regional economic integration is an agreement to reduce regional trade barriers, remove tariffs and non-tariff barriers that will hinder the flow of free trade of goods, services, and factors of production among countries in a geographic region (Hill, 2009). There are many regional trade blocs in place today that have achieved harmonious and non-harmonious integration. Following is a closer look at some of the advantages and disadvantage one trade bloc that is situated in the Caribbean region named, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its expansion into CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Caribbean Community (CARICOM) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was established in July 1973 as an expansion of the former Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) that had been in place for seven years prior ("Caribbean community (caricom)," 2014). The CARICOM trading bloc profile states that it goes beyond the normal boundaries of free-trade to encompass programs that will sustain economic development within the region ("Caribbean community (caricom)," 2014). States located outside the CARICOM...
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...Regional Integration for and Against Articles Advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement has come into power as of January 1994. Causing Mexico, Canada, and the United States to come together. The objective of NAFTA is to generate improved trading environments through decreasing tariff, elimination of investment blockades, and enhancing property protection By putting together the biggest trade and industry region in the globe, to some extent exceeding the Europeans marketplace.. The operations of North American Free Trade Agreement has help Mexico's financial system in agreement to the United States' financial system, which has helped Mexico ‘sells to other countries boost tremendously as of 1993. 1994 to 1997, United States. operations with Mexico as well Canada increased 44%. this large development is credited mainly through decreasing tariffs. While tariffs were decreased, the United. States. merchandise grow to be less expensive and more competitive in Mexico as well Canada’s marketplaces, while the demands of goods increased in the United States (Dentzer, 2004). In Mexico, the removing of the barriers with tariffs, has caused investments to develop as well produced employment raising the Gross Domestic Product, and dropping prices for consumers. In Mexico. Before the North American Free Trade Agreement was create, spending was not easy. Manufacturers were required to go the Mexican Government for support...
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