Deep Integration, Nondiscrimination, and Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade PDF Download
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Author: Bernard M. Hoekman
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Bilateral Free Trade Agreement
Languages : en
Pages : 44
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Book Description
Abstract: May 1999 - Preferential trade agreements that are limited to the elimination of tariffs for merchandise trade flows are of limited value at best and may be as easily welfare-reducing as welfare-enhancing. It is important that preferential trade agreements go beyond eliminating tariffs and quotas to eliminating regulatory and red tape costs and opening up service markets to foreign competition. Deep integration-explicit government actions to reduce the market-segmenting effect of domestic regulatory policies through coordination and cooperation-is becoming a major dimension of some regional integration agreements, led by the European Union. Health and safety regulations, competition laws, licensing and certification regimes, and administrative procedures such as customs clearance can affect trade (in ways analogous to nontariff barriers) even though their underlying intent may not be to discriminate against foreign suppliers of goods and services. Whether preferential trade agreements (PTAs) can be justified in a multilateral trading system depends on the extent to which formal intergovernmental agreements are technically necessary to achieve the deep integration needed to make markets more contestable. The more need for formal cooperation, the stronger the case for regional integration. Whether PTAs are justified regionally also depends on whether efforts to reduce market segmentation are applied on a nondiscriminatory basis. If innovations to reduce transaction or market access costs extend to both members and nonmembers of a PTA, regionalism as an instrument of trade and investment becomes more attractive. Using a standard competitive general equilibrium model of the Egyptian economy, Hoekman and Konan find that the static welfare impact of a deep free trade agreement is far greater than the impact that can be expected from a classic shallow agreement. Under some scenarios, welfare may increase by more than 10 percent of GDP, compared with close to zero under a shallow agreement. Given Egypt's highly diversified trading patterns, a shallow PTA with the European Union could be merely diversionary, leading to a small decline in welfare. Egypt already has duty-free access to the European Union for manufactures, so the loss in tariff revenues incurred would outweigh any new trade created. Large gains in welfare from the PTA are conditional on eliminating regulatory barriers and red tape-in which case welfare gains may be substantial: 4 to 20 percent growth in real GNP. This paper-a product of the Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to analyze regional integration agreements. The authors may be contacted at bhoekman@@worldbank.org or konan@@hawaii.edu.
Author: Bernard M. Hoekman
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Bilateral Free Trade Agreement
Languages : en
Pages : 44
Get Book Here
Book Description
Abstract: May 1999 - Preferential trade agreements that are limited to the elimination of tariffs for merchandise trade flows are of limited value at best and may be as easily welfare-reducing as welfare-enhancing. It is important that preferential trade agreements go beyond eliminating tariffs and quotas to eliminating regulatory and red tape costs and opening up service markets to foreign competition. Deep integration-explicit government actions to reduce the market-segmenting effect of domestic regulatory policies through coordination and cooperation-is becoming a major dimension of some regional integration agreements, led by the European Union. Health and safety regulations, competition laws, licensing and certification regimes, and administrative procedures such as customs clearance can affect trade (in ways analogous to nontariff barriers) even though their underlying intent may not be to discriminate against foreign suppliers of goods and services. Whether preferential trade agreements (PTAs) can be justified in a multilateral trading system depends on the extent to which formal intergovernmental agreements are technically necessary to achieve the deep integration needed to make markets more contestable. The more need for formal cooperation, the stronger the case for regional integration. Whether PTAs are justified regionally also depends on whether efforts to reduce market segmentation are applied on a nondiscriminatory basis. If innovations to reduce transaction or market access costs extend to both members and nonmembers of a PTA, regionalism as an instrument of trade and investment becomes more attractive. Using a standard competitive general equilibrium model of the Egyptian economy, Hoekman and Konan find that the static welfare impact of a deep free trade agreement is far greater than the impact that can be expected from a classic shallow agreement. Under some scenarios, welfare may increase by more than 10 percent of GDP, compared with close to zero under a shallow agreement. Given Egypt's highly diversified trading patterns, a shallow PTA with the European Union could be merely diversionary, leading to a small decline in welfare. Egypt already has duty-free access to the European Union for manufactures, so the loss in tariff revenues incurred would outweigh any new trade created. Large gains in welfare from the PTA are conditional on eliminating regulatory barriers and red tape-in which case welfare gains may be substantial: 4 to 20 percent growth in real GNP. This paper-a product of the Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to analyze regional integration agreements. The authors may be contacted at bhoekman@@worldbank.org or konan@@hawaii.edu.
Author: Bernard Hoekman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 40
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Book Description
Author: E. George H. Joffé
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780714644998
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
Looks at the provisions and potential for the Partnership, which formally established in November 1995 as a series of bilateral free trade agreements between the European Union and individual countries of on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. Among the perspectives are who will benefit, the global Euro-Mediterranean partnership, regionalism and the Mediterranean, social feasibility and the costs of the free trade zone, lessons from southeast Asia, and security implications. The 17 articles first appeared in the Journal of North African Studies 3/2 (summer 1998). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Author: Franco Zallio
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Europe
Languages : ar
Pages : 17
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Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 26
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Book Description
The study aims at studying the context in which the new 'Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean' initiative was adopted by the 27 EU Member States and its Mediterranean Partners and what can be expected from this new initiative in the trade and economic fields. Since 1995 it is obvious that progress was achieved in building a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area as almost all Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements have been implemented. The multilateral dimension of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: the Barcelona Process has also generated positive results such as the creation of a number of multilateral networks and institutions. The 2005 five years programme (2006-2009) adopted at the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Barcelona Process gave, in this regard, a new impetus to the multilateral cooperation. The issue of economic integration between the Mediterranean Partners is nevertheless still a major concern as little has been achieved at operational level. However, even if the Arab Maghreb Union process is still frozen, the creation of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area and the launching of the Agadir initiative are positive signs indicating that there is a renewed political will to address this crucial issue. The prospect of deeper Euro-Mediterranean integration implies a number of new challenges in the areas of trade in industrial and agricultural products and services. Deeper economic integration implies also the creation of new structures on the two shores of the Mediterranean. According to the European Commission the 'broader neighbourhood economic community' should be the long term vision and 'deep and comprehensive free trade agreements' could be envisaged in the future. The potential impact of deeper economic integration on key economic sectors should however not be underestimated. Also, the level of Foreign Direct Investment in the Mediterranean is still a major concern even if the new trends are a little bit more positive. The 'Barcelona process Union for the Mediterranean' is indeed an opportunity to consolidate the Barcelona acquis and to go forward with a deeper Euro-Mediterranean economic integration initiated with the launching of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The proposals made in the recent Communication of the European Commission and within the framework of the Paris Summit Declaration are however quite limited in the field of economic and trade relations as the three key elements of the new strategy are: i) To upgrade the political level of the EU's relationship with its Mediterranean Partners; ii) To provide for further co-ownership to the Euro-Mediterranean multilateral relations; and iii) To make these relations more concrete and visible through additional regional and sub-regional projects, relevant for the citizens of the region. Six projects have been identified by the Paris Joint Declaration but new initiatives are needed to reinvigorate the Barcelona Process. The architecture of the new institutional structure is to be further clarified in the coming months and it is still time to address some remaining shortcomings.
Author: Wolfgang Zank
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
In the Mediterranean Basin two projects of economic integration overlap, namely the project of a Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) and a process of economic integration of the European Union (EU), which neighbors into EU's Internal Market; the EU endeavors to strengthen cooperation with the neighbors practically on all fields. For decades, in spite of high-pitch rhetoric about Pan-Arabism, practical Arab integration was very limited. Hardly any other region was so divided politically. Furthermore, almost all Arab countries followed inward-oriented development strategies with high protectionist tariffs. These severely constrained economic transactions among the Arab countries. Thereby the Arab world became one of the most fragmented areas in the world. Spillover effects from economic to political integration, which played an important role in European integration could not take place. From the 1970s onwards a slow and often inconsistent transition to open marked economies began. It improved the conditions for Arab economic cooperation considerably, and in 1997 the GAFTA project was launched. It generated indeed increased trade. However, so far it remained 'shallow' integration, implying tariff reductions at the border, but not 'deep' integration with changes behind the border, such as common competition rules or common products standards. Therefore, numerous non-tariff barriers still exist, and competition remains distorted. Arab voices demand 'deep integration', but this requires political decision-making and dispute settlements which would restrict state sovereignty. Currently not many indicators point at such a transition in the Arab world. On the other hand, 'deep' integration has made considerable progress among the EU and some neighboring countries, notably Tunisia and Morocco. The impacts have been far reaching, also in the political sphere. This process is likely to impact some Arab countries much more than Arab integration. Theoretically it can be explained in terms of neofunctional theory.
Author: Gary P. Sampson
Publisher: UNU
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 390
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Book Description
This publication considers whether regional trade agreements have led to a new form of economic co-operation, by promoting deeper integration in the regulatory structures of participating countries. An examination of recent experiences are found to show that, although there is no single model for deeper integration, regional trade agreements have generally more effective than more remote WTO procedures in facilitating trade and improving transparency. Regional processes and rules are found to have been consistent with the multilateral obligations of each party, with additional commitments in the regional agreements complementing WTO rules.
Author: Aaditya Mattoo
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464815542
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 768
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Book Description
Deep trade agreements (DTAs) cover not just trade but additional policy areas, such as international flows of investment and labor and the protection of intellectual property rights and the environment. Their goal is integration beyond trade or deep integration. These agreements matter for economic development. Their rules influence how countries (and hence, the people and firms that live and operate within them) transact, invest, work, and ultimately, develop. Trade and investment regimes determine the extent of economic integration, competition rules affect economic efficiency, intellectual property rights matter for innovation, and environmental and labor rules contribute to environmental and social outcomes. This Handbook provides the tools and data needed to analyze these new dimensions of integration and to assess the content and consequences of DTAs. The Handbook and the accompanying database are the result of collaboration between experts in different policy areas from academia and other international organizations, including the International Trade Centre (ITC), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and World Trade Organization (WTO).
Author: Jürgen von Hagen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461516439
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 267
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Book Description
Over the past 40 years, the European Union has been a great force of attraction for new members. At the same time it has entered a host of bilateral and multilateral regional agreements with non-member countries. The result of these developments is a rather unique form of regionalism in Europe, consisting of deep integration within the European Union and a network of sometimes overlapping arrangements involving the Union. Regionalism in Europe: Geometries and Strategies After 2000 brings together a collection of studies of the nature and the implications of this unique regionalism in Europe written by a group of renowned economists from various countries. The issues discussed in this book range from theoretical and institutional aspects to empirical studies of the EU's regional policy, the regional implications of European Monetary Union, and empirical studies of the trade and welfare effects of regional arrangements between the EU and other countries.
Author: Bart?omiej Kami?ski
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Access to Markets
Languages : en
Pages : 33
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Book Description
Abstract: June 1999 - Can Hungarian firms cope with competitive pressures and market forces within the European Union market (a criterion for joining)? The empirical evidence suggests that Hungary can withstand such competitive pressures without suppressing the real incomes of Hungary's citizens. Hungary has achieved impressive results in reorienting both its production and trade. Between 1989 and 1992, as the former CMEA markets collapsed and Hungary liberalized imports and the exchange rate regime, exports to the European Union (EU) expanded, with manufactured exports redirected largely to Western (mostly EU) markets. During this first phase of expansion, characterized by a dramatic reorientation and explosion of trade, the value of Hungary's exports increased 84 percent. In 1993 export expansion lost steam and EU-oriented exports fell 12 percent. In a second phase of expansion (in 1994-97), driven by restructured and rapidly changing export offers, exports again registered strong performance, their value increasing 132 percent. There was a dramatic shift from an export basket dominated by resource-intensive, low-value-added products to one driven by manufactures, with a rapidly accelerating growth of engineering products. Machinery and transport equipment rose from 12 percent of exports to the EU in 1989 to more than 50 percent in 1997. The shift from natural resource and unskilled-labor-intensive products to technology- and capital-intensive products in EU-oriented exports suggests the potential for integration higher in the value-added spectrum. More stringent EU environmental regulations will affect a relatively low, and falling, share of Hungary's exports. The Hungarian share of environmentally dirty products imported by the EU has increased, but these products have not been trendsetters among Hungarian exports, their share in exports falling from 26 percent in 1989 to 16 percent in 1996. The rapid pace of Hungary's turnaround seems to reflect the emergence of second-generation firms, mostly foreign-owned. Foreign-owned firms tend to be more export-oriented. Hungary has been one of the more successful transition economies because its economy was receptive to foreign direct investment from the outset. Between 1990 and 1997, Hungary absorbed roughly half of all foreign capital invested in Central Europe. This paper - a product of Trade, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to study regional integration. The author may be contacted at bkaminski@@worldbank.org.
