Publications /
Policy Brief

Back
Welfare and Regional Integration Agreements: Lessons for Africa
Authors
Tharcisse Guèdègbé
Will Martin
July 3, 2018

In the developing world, regional integration is frequently seen as an opportunity to promote development. However, historical facts and economic literature remind us that the success of economic integration is not always guaranteed, and numerous considerations should be taken into account in designing such agreements. This short paper considers the broad reasons for countries forming regional integration agreements, including strengthening trade relations, improving investments, boosting economic performance, and finally, enhancing foreign relations. It also explores the travails of the multilateral trading system and then then considers the differences between Customs Unions and Free Trade Areas. Finally, it considers the approaches used to evaluate the basic economic impacts of agreements.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    June 27, 2019
    Caribbean and African ties run deep. They are based on a shared history, culture, and sense of a common identity forged by the slave trade which forcibly relocated more than 10 million Africans to the New World, in the process, creating large centres of African Diaspora in the Caribbean and elsewhere. The common historical experiences of slavery and colonialism inspired formation of the Pan-African Movement in the first half of the 1900’s led by the African Diaspora outside of Afric ...
  • June 27, 2019
    Intégration Régionale et Investissements Directs Etrangers: Retour sur les Expériences Brésilienne et Africaines - Sandra Polonia Rios, Directrice, CINDES -- www.policycenter.ma ...
  • June 27, 2019
    Intégration Régionale et Investissements Directs Etrangers: Retour sur les Expériences Brésilienne et Africaines - Pedro da Motta Veiga, Président, CINDES -- www.policycenter.ma ...
  • Authors
    Raphael Camargo
    June 26, 2019
    The author is an alumnus of the 2015 Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program Five brief bullet points: this was the entire contents of President Jair Bolsonaro’s political plan presented during the 2018 Brazilian Presidential race detailing his foreign policy ambitions. Besides the pro-Trump rhetoric, little was known regarding Mr. Bolsonaro’s international relations plan. Elected with 55.13% of the valid votes in a second-round turn, the victory of the Social Liberal Party (PS ...
  • Authors
    Pedro da Motta Veiga
    Sandra Polónia Rios
    June 25, 2019
    From 2010 onwards, China has become a relevant foreign investor in Brazil, mainly through State-owned companies investing in infrastructure – particularly in the energy sector. In the first years of the current decade, Chinese investment has been widely welcomed in an environment characterized by declining investment rates and low economic growth. However, more recently, some concerns have been raised of an “excessive” dependence of China state companies in sectors perceived as stra ...