In this paper we argue that strong political economy forces explain the rush of the EU to expand eastwards. We use a model of vertical product differentiation in order to claim that technologically- advanced EU firms (residing in high-income member countries) prefer a mutual market-opening with less technologically sophisticated countries than multilateral liberalization, which would necessarily involve the reciprocal opening of markets with other technologically-advanced countries. By the same token, less technologically sophisticated firms residing in low-income member countries would prefer an enlargement that is directed towards high-income countries. The evidence presented in the paper supports our hypothesis.
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Paper provided by CESifo Group Munich in its series CESifo Working Paper Series with number
CESifo Working Paper No. 704.
Find related papers by JEL classification: D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Grossman, Gene M & Helpman, Elhanan, 1994.
"Protection for Sale,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 833-50, September.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 1992.
"Protection For Sale,"
NBER Working Papers
4149, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Aaron Tornell & Gerardo Esquivel Hernández, 1997.
"The Political Economy of Mexico's Entry into NAFTA,"
NBER Chapters,
in: Regionalism versus Multilateral Trade Arrangements, NBER-EASE Volume 6, pages 25-56
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]
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