Regional Integration and Capital Mobility in the World Economy: Experiences of the European Union, NAFTA and AFTA
Capital mobility is one of the predominant features of the global economy at the beginning of the 21st century. Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows constitute an important element of this mobility. The aim of the paper is to discuss the relationship between regional integration and capital movement in the form of FDI under globalization using the experiences of the EU, NAFTA and AFTA. The analysis shows that the typical time sequence of liberalization of goods and capital markets within an integrated area changed in the 90ies which might be related to globalization processes. Even in less developed countries, capital movement in the form of FDI is liberalized simultaneously to the liberalization of goods movement.This paper was presented at the 17th international conference of the International Trade and Finance Association, Miami, Florida, May 16-18, 2007.