IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/weltar/v146y2010i3p389-414.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How integrated is the world economy?

Author

Listed:
  • Harry Bowen
  • Haris Munandar
  • Jean-Marie Viaene

Abstract

This paper develops a methodology to measure the degree of economic integration between nations that are members of an integrated economic area (IEA). We show that an IEA is characterized by three properties regarding the distribution of IEA member shares of total IEA output and total IEA stocks of physical and human capital. We then show that the expected distribution of member shares within a fully integrated economic area is a harmonic series, with the share distribution depending only on the number of IEA members. This property is then used to develop a composite indicator of the degree of economic integration within an IEA that indicates the distance between the theoretical and actual distribution of shares; the closer is the actual distribution to the expected distribution, the greater the degree of integration. We empirically compute our degree of integration index for US states, and alternative IEAs (e.g., EU countries, Mercosur, Bangkok Agreement, etc.) and a World comprising 64 countries.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Harry Bowen & Haris Munandar & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2010. "How integrated is the world economy?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(3), pages 389-414, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:weltar:v:146:y:2010:i:3:p:389-414
    DOI: 10.1007/s10290-010-0061-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10290-010-0061-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10290-010-0061-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ben Gardiner & Ron Martin & Tyler Peter, 2004. "Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Growth across the European Regions," ERSA conference papers ersa04p333, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Nehru, Vikram & Swanson, Eric & Dubey, Ashutosh, 1995. "A new database on human capital stock in developing and industrial countries: Sources, methodology, and results," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 379-401, April.
    3. Greenaway, David & Lloyd, Peter & Milner, Chris, 2001. "New concepts and measures of the globalisation of production," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 57-63, October.
    4. Ramey, Garey & Ramey, Valerie A, 1995. "Cross-Country Evidence on the Link between Volatility and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1138-1151, December.
    5. Alicia H. Munnell, 1990. "Why has productivity growth declined? Productivity and public investment," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Jan, pages 3-22.
    6. repec:dgr:rugggd:200363 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    8. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong-Wha, 1993. "International comparisons of educational attainment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 363-394, December.
    9. James R. MARKUSEN, 2021. "Factor Movements And Commodity Trade As Complements," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 15, pages 325-340, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    11. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2001. "International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 541-563, July.
    12. Timmer, Marcel P. & Ypma, Gerard & Ark, Bart van der, 2003. "IT in the European Union: driving productivity divergence?," GGDC Research Memorandum 200363, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    13. Raymond G. Riezman & John Whalley & Shunming Zhang, 2013. "Metrics capturing the degree to which individual economies are globalized," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(36), pages 5046-5061, December.
    14. Riezman, Raymond & Whalley, John & Zhang, Shunming, 2011. "Distance measures between free trade and autarky for the world economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 2000-2012, July.
    15. Xavier Gabaix, 2009. "Power Laws in Economics and Finance," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 255-294, May.
    16. Paul Schreyer & Pierre-Emmanuel Bignon & Julien Dupont, 2003. "OECD Capital Services Estimates: Methodology and a First Set of Results," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2003/6, OECD Publishing.
    17. World Bank, 2005. "Global Economic Prospects 2005 : Trade, Regionalism and Development," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14783.
    18. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    19. Xavier Gabaix, 1999. "Zipf's Law for Cities: An Explanation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(3), pages 739-767.
    20. Gasper A. Garofalo & Steven Yamarik, 2002. "Regional Convergence: Evidence From A New State-By-State Capital Stock Series," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 316-323, May.
    21. Lau, Lawrence J. & Jamison, Dean T. & Louat, Frederic F., 1991. "Education and productivity in developing countries : an aggregate production function approach," Policy Research Working Paper Series 612, The World Bank.
    22. Robert J. Barro, 1999. "Determinants of Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(S6), pages 158-183, December.
    23. Crespo Jorge & Martín Carmela & Velázquez Francisco J, 2004. "The Role of International Technology Spillovers in the Economic Growth of the OECD Countries," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 1-20, December.
    24. Dani Rodrik, 1998. "Has Globalization Gone Too Far?," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(2), pages 81-94, March.
    25. An, Galina & Iyigun, Murat F., 2004. "The export skill content, learning by exporting and economic growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 29-34, July.
    26. Andersen, Torben M. & Herbertsson, Tryggvi Thor, 2003. "Measuring Globalization," IZA Discussion Papers 817, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    27. Robert Summers & Alan Heston, 1991. "The Penn World Table (Mark 5): An Expanded Set of International Comparisons, 1950–1988," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 327-368.
    28. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong Wha, 1996. "International Measures of Schooling Years and Schooling Quality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 218-223, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Harry P. Bowen & Haris Munandar & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2008. "On the Extent of Economic Integration: A Comparison of E.U. Countries and U.S. States," Discussion Paper Series 2008-01, McColl School of Business, Queens University of Charlotte.
    2. Marie M. Stack & Martin Bliss, 2020. "EU economic integration agreements, Brexit and trade," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 156(3), pages 443-473, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bowen, H. & Munandar, H. & Viaene, J.M., 2006. "Evidence and implications of zipf’s law for integrated economies," Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School Working Paper Series 2006-03, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School.
    2. Harry P. Bowen & Haris Munandar & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2008. "On the Extent of Economic Integration: A Comparison of E.U. Countries and U.S. States," Discussion Paper Series 2008-01, McColl School of Business, Queens University of Charlotte.
    3. Harry P. Bowen & Haris Munandar & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2005. "The Limiting Distribution of Production in Integrated Economies: Evidence from US States and EU Countries," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-045/2, Tinbergen Institute.
    4. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2001. "International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 541-563, July.
    5. Angel de la Fuente & Antonio Ciccone, 2003. "Human capital in a global and knowledge-based economy," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 562.03, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    6. Harry P. Bowen & Haris Munandar & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2005. "Zipf's Law for Integrated Economies," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-048/2, Tinbergen Institute, revised 06 Feb 2007.
    7. Wößmann, Ludger, 2000. "Specifying Human Capital: A Review, Some Extensions, and Development Effects," Kiel Working Papers 1007, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    8. Jean-Louis ARCAND & Béatrice D'HOMBRES, 2002. "Explaining the Negative Coefficient Associated with Human Capital in Augmented Solow Growth Regressions," Working Papers 200227, CERDI.
    9. Harry P. Bowen & Haris Munundar & Jean-Marie Viaene, 2008. "Factor Mobility and the Distribution of Economic Activity in Integrated Economies: Evidence and Implications," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 315, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    10. Ludger Wößmann, 2003. "Specifying Human Capital," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 239-270, July.
    11. Michael S. Delgado & Daniel J. Henderson & Christopher F. Parmeter, 2014. "Does Education Matter for Economic Growth?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 76(3), pages 334-359, June.
    12. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Domènech, 2012. "Educational Attainment in the OECD, 1960-2010," Working Papers 658, Barcelona School of Economics.
    13. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    14. Simeonova-Ganeva, Ralitsa, 2006. "Влияние На Човешкия Капитал Върху Икономическия Растеж (България, 1949-2005 Г.) [The Impact of Human Capital on the Economic Growth (Bulgaria, 1949-2005)]," MPRA Paper 37244, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Doménech, 2013. "Cross-country data on the quantity of schooling: a selective survey and some quality measures," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 936.13, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    16. Miguel Portela & Rob Alessie & Coen Teulings, 2010. "Measurement Error in Education and Growth Regressions," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(3), pages 618-639, September.
    17. Ulaşan, Bülent, 2011. "Cross-country growth empirics and model uncertainty: An overview," Economics Discussion Papers 2011-37, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    18. Angel De la Fuente, 2011. "Human capital and productivity," Working Papers 1103, BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department.
    19. Nadir ALTINOK, 2017. "Analyse critique et méthodologique des données d‘éducation de l’Afrique subsaharienne," Working Paper 688bd54b-760c-443b-8343-7, Agence française de développement.
    20. Les OXxley & Ttrinh Le & John Gibson, 2008. "Measuring Human Capital: Alternative Methods and International Evidence," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 24, pages 283-344.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Distribution of production; Economic convergence; Factor mobility; Economic integration; E13; F15; F21; F22; O57;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:weltar:v:146:y:2010:i:3:p:389-414. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.