The Regionalization Of The World Economy

Regional economic arrangements such as free trade areas (FTAs), customs unions, and currency blocs, have become increasingly prevalent in the world economy. Both pervasive and controversial, regionalization has some economists optimistic about the opportunities it creates and others fearful that it may corrupt fragile efforts to encourage global free trade. Including both empirical and theoretical studies, this volume addresses several important questions: Why do countries adopt FTAs and other regional trading arrangements? To what extent have existing regional arrangements actually affected patterns of trade? What are the welfare effects of such arrangements? Several chapters explore the economic effects of regional arrangements on patterns of trade, either on price differentials or via the gravity model on bilateral trade flows. In addition, this book examines the theoretical foundation of the gravity model. Making extensive use of the gravity model of bilateral trade, several chapters explore the economic effects of regional arrangements. In addition, this book examines the theoretical foundation of the gravity model.

Originally published in 1998. This collection of outstanding essays explores the importance of regionalization and globalization to the world economy. International contributions explore the process of regionalization in the Pacific Area, The Americas, Africa and Europe, and question whether the world economy is characterized by increasing regionalization, rather than globalization. The book is an excellent contribution to debate on development economics. It investigates how the processes of globalization and regionalization, driven by liberalization of trade and capital markets, weaken nationally established monopolies and protected industries and it looks at the challenge to Third World nations and the countries of the former socialist bloc.

The process of globalization can be seen in the increase of: trade interdependence, the importance of global multinational corporations, mobility and volatility of capital flows (with dangers demonstrated by the recent Mexican crisis). This globalization creates both dangers and new opportunities, both winners and losers. The parallel growth of regional blocs is equally hazardous, particularly for countries left outside the regional blocs. The book, with contributions by eminent experts, describes the impact of both globalization and regionalization and the relationship between these two dominant trends.

Examines the political and economic changes that have reshaped the political geography of certain regions. This book deals with the concept of global bloc formation, examining the impacts that political-economic conditions and relationships in and between nations have on demographic and economic flows.

This book is an outcome of a joint research project of the Institute of the Americas La Jolla, California, the Centre for US Mexico Studies, San Diego, the Graduate School of Interrelations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego an

Featuring a notable list of international contributors, this book presents a systematic and stimulating discussion on regionalism, covering topical issues such as recent financial crises, enlargement within EU and the post-Lome regionalism of Africa.

In contrast to most studies of regionalism, Grugel and Hout focus on countries not currently at the core of the global economy, including Brazil and Mercosur, Chile, South East Asia, China, South Africa, the Maghreb, Turkey and Australia. What seems clear from this original analysis is that far from being peripheral, these countries are forming regional power blocs of their own, which could go on to hold the balance of power in the new world order.

In this volume, David B. Audretsch and Charles F. Bonser present a view of Globalization and Regionalization that holds that the interaction between a more open trading system and the new telecommunications and computer technology has substantially increased productivity and facilitated the fragmentation of the production process. The fragmentation of the production process has resulted in a new international organization of production. It has accelerated the globalization of national economies and has allowed firms to take advantage of low wages, wherever they are to be found, and, where important, to locate production facilities close to their customers. This expansion in international trade and production mobility has resulted in new sources of gain that contribute to the new economy. In the second chapter of this volume, Alfred C. Aman, Jr. examines whether globalization dictates new approaches to governance. The process by which public policy in England has incorporated regional government is the focus of Kenneth Spencer in Chapter 3. In the fourth chapter Lawrence S. Davidson provides an analysis of the impact of globalization on manufacturing in the US Midwest. In Chapter 5, John W. Ryan shows how there is a dual role of universities in the global economy. On the one hand, universities serve as institutions that foster globalization and reduce the isolation of regions. On the other hand, universities themselves are shaped and influenced by globalization. David B. Audretsch and A. Roy Thurik, in Chapter 6, show how globalization has led to the emergence of the strategic management of regions. In Chapter 7, Jean-Pierre van Aubel and Frans van Nispen examine the links between federalization and globalization in the European context. The impact of globalization on regulatory institutions is the focus of Montserrat Cuchillo in Chapter 8. Finally, in Chapter 9, David Eaton examines the relationship between global trade sovereignty and sub-national autonomy. Taken together, these chapters provide a compelling view that public policy must be considered in a new light in the global economy. Not only does policy have to consider global implications, but also the importance of local characteristics and regional strengths.