Unilateral Liberalization versus Regional Integration: The Case of ECO Member Countries

Jahangir Khan Achakzai ()
Additional contact information
Jahangir Khan Achakzai: Department of Economics, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan.

Lahore Journal of Economics, 2010, vol. 15, issue 1, 27-44

Abstract: Using an international dataset on bilateral trade for 137 countries in 2005, we estimate a gravity model to address the question of whether intra-Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) trade is too low and whether the scale of trade at present is accounted for by regional integration or unilateral liberalization. The results of the gravity model confirm that intra-regional trade is lower than predicted by the gravity equation. The results also validates the theory that the present level of trade is attributed to regional agreements rather than unilateral liberalization, suggesting greater scope for regional cooperation among ECO member countries.

Keywords: Bilateral trade; economic cooperation organization; regionalism. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N70 P45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://121.52.153.179/JOURNAL/LJE%20Vol15-%20No.12 ... an%20EDITED%20AC.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lje:journl:v:15:y:2010:i:1:p:27-44

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Lahore Journal of Economics from Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Shahid Salahuddin ().