The transformations in regional economic integration and trading bloc

• Main Authors: Ssu-Ying Lee, 李思瑩
• Other Authors: 黃幼宜
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/13929297618307806532

碩士 === 國立臺灣海洋大學 === 應用經濟研究所 === 94 === This paper aims at revealing the transformations in regional economic integrations and trading bloc by evaluating bilateral trade flows in 1980-2000. Globalization and Regionalization are the main factors in developing international trade. When multilateral negotiations stalled in 1990s, regional trade agreements (RTAs) displaced world trade organization as a new trend. RTAs may drive by government policies or market forces. But market forces sometimes prior to policies (Piazalo, 1997). Therefore, this paper investigates the relationships between RTAs and trade bloc. Not only address the progress in regional economic integration, but also verify the effect of RTAs and trading bloc by gravity model. The RTAs in this paper are EU, EFTA, ASEAN, ANZCERTA, NAFTA and MERCOSUR. Besides RTAs, revealing trading bloc by cluster analysis and proving the trading blocs exist or not. Finally, comparing the differences between RTAs and trading blocs. The major findings are as follows: (1) The distinct RTAs could be identified during the last two dacades. (2) The trading blocs could be divided into European bloc, American bloc and Asian bloc by trade flows. (3) The trade intensity in Europe and America is declining, but it’s stronger than before in Asia. (4) Each trading bloc has a tendency towards expansion and also has significant positive effects with trade flows, especially in Asia. Keywords：regional economic integration, trading bloc, gravity model.