New Dimensions in Regional Integration [Paperback]

This volume considers the implications of revived interest in regional integration for the world trading system.Based on a CEPR joint conference with the World Bank, papers in this volume analyze why countries find regional integration more attractive now than in the past. The text also considers whether regionalism may serve as a stepping stone to multilateral free trade.Based on a CEPR joint conference with the World Bank, papers in this volume analyze why countries find regional integration more attractive now than in the past. The text also considers whether regionalism may serve as a stepping stone to multilateral free trade.The slow progress of the GATT negotiations, developing countries' experience of trade liberalization in the 1980s and recent dramatic changes in Eastern Europe have all revived interest in regional integration. Papers in this volume, based on a CEPR joint conference with the World Bank, analyze why countries find regional integration more attractive now than in the past, the circumstances under which different kinds of integration are appropriate and the conditions necessary for their success. It also considers whether regionalism may serve as a stepping stone to multilateral free trade and the possible harmful long-term effects on small developing countries and free traders of the world's division into trading blocs.Preface; Foreword Richard Portes and Lawrence Summers; Acknowledgements; List of conference participants; Part I. Systemic Issues: 1. Introduction Jaime de Melo and Arvind Panagariya; 2. Regionalism and multilateralism: an overview Jagdish Bhagwati; Discussion Robert Baldwin and Richard Blackhurst; 3. Regionalism versus multilateralism: analytical notes Paul Krugman; Discussion Ronald Jones and T. N. Srinivasan; 4. Multilateral and bilateral trade policies in the world trading system: an historical perspective Douglas A. Irwin; Discussion Barry Eichengreen and Mancur Olson; 5. Gatt's influence on regional arrangements J. MlóË