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The “deeper” and the “wider” EU strategies of trade integration.An empirical evaluation of EU Common Commercial Policy effects

Author

Listed:
  • Roberta De Santis

    (ISAE - Institute for Studies and Economic Analyses)

  • Claudio Vicarelli

    (ISAE - Institute for Studies and Economic Analyses)

Abstract

Since the post war period, the EU Common Commercial Policy (CCP) has moved in two directions mainly through of Preferential Trade agreements (PTAs): a “deeper” (internal) trade integration process intended to reinforce trade relations among European countries (i.e. Custom Union, Single Market, European Monetary Union, Enlargement Process), and a “wider” (external) integration process intended to reinforce trade relations with third countries.Surprisingly, there are very few empirical studies in the literature which specifically quantify the effects of “all” EU PTAs on the European countries’ trade flows. This paper seeks to fill this gap by conducting an empirical investigation on whether and how the CCP has had a significant impact on European countries’ imports. It adopts an extended version of the gravity model. In line with recent studies, it also controls for heterogeneity and bilateral trends, and includes a set of variables to proxy for the “multilateral resistance index”. According to our results, the EU “free trade area” has been a successful experiment in trade liberalisation. However, the positive and significant coefficient of PTAs signed by EU with third countries may somehow have limited the occurrence of trade diversion effects. Indeed the coefficient of trade diversion dummy is small and significant.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberta De Santis & Claudio Vicarelli, 2007. "The “deeper” and the “wider” EU strategies of trade integration.An empirical evaluation of EU Common Commercial Policy effects," ISAE Working Papers 79, ISTAT - Italian National Institute of Statistics - (Rome, ITALY).
    • Handle: RePEc:isa:wpaper:79
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Frank A.G. den Butter, 2012. "Managing Transaction Costs in the Era of Globalization," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14748.
    2. Roberta De Santis, 2012. "Impact of Environmental Regulations on Trade in the Main EU Countries: Conflict or Synergy?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(7), pages 799-815, July.
    3. Jeevika Weerahewa, 2009. "Impact of Trade Facilitation Measures and Regional Trade Agreements on Food and Agricultural Tarde in South Asia," Working Papers 6909, Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), an initiative of UNESCAP and IDRC, Canada..
    4. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & De Santis, Roberta & Girardi, Alessandro, 2015. "Trade intensity and output synchronisation: On the endogeneity properties of EMU," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 154-163.
    5. Hall Joshua C. & Lawson Robert A. & Wogsland Rachael, 2011. "The European Union and Economic Freedom," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    trade flows; regional integration; gravity model; panel data;

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • C13 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Estimation: General
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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