While the WTO process of multilateral trade liberalization encounters increasing resistance, in part because the most difficult issues have finally risen to the top of the agenda, market-based forces are contributing to international economic integration. One of the most potent are cross-border...

This paper examines the implications of cross-border production fragmentation in the context of regional integration, using both general- and partial-equilibrium approaches. It shows the conditions under which fragmentation converts a trade-diverting FTA into a trade creating one. It assesses...

A feature of the continuing integration of the world economy is the globalization of production and the consequent rise of trade in parts and components. Products are more internationalized and less identified with any particular country. Non-trivial shares of the value-added of many exports...