Block 2 Revision

Question 1

Regional Economic Integration (wild and wild 2014)

Answer 1

It moves the market conditions within the regional economic block, closer to those of a market economy.

Question 2

What are the levels and types of regional integration? CEPCF

Answer 2

The common market
The Economic Union
The Political Union
The customs union
The free trade area

Question 3

The free trade area

Answer 3

Member states remove all trade barriers between other member states. This include both tariff and non-tariff

Member states can generally set whatever barriers they like with non-members

Question 4

The customs union

Answer 4

Largely the same as a free trade area but with a coordinated trade barrier approach to non-members

The main difference is that the customs union faces the rest of the world as a single trading entity

Question 5

The common market

Answer 5

Here we increase the level of integration

Free trade among member states

Common trade position towards non-members

Allows free movement of factors of production such as labour and investment

Question 6

Hill (2023) - common market

Answer 6

Demands a significant degree of harmony and cooperation on fiscal, monetary and employment policies

Question 7

Economic union

Answer 7

Tax, monetary and fiscal policies are harmonised across member states and a single currency is formed

(Hill 2023) - such a degree of integration demands a coordinating bureaucracy and the sacrifice of significant amounts of national sovereignty

Question 8

Political union

Answer 8

Incorporates all the aspects outlined in the types of regional integration and adds a coordinated political system to this

Question 9

Levels of economic integration (Hill 2023)

Answer 9

📈Consistent chart going up, two axis are level of integration and complexity

Political union
Economic union
Common market
Customs union
Free trade

Question 10

NAFTA

Answer 10

1992
US, Canada, Mexico
Lengthy negotiations to start up
Declining popularity

Question 11

Free trade and poverty

Answer 11

Poverty rate going down in sub-Saharan Africa as gdp per capita rises

Whilst wealth has increased globally, wealth distribution in developed economies has become less equal

Question 12

Benefits of regional trade integration

Answer 12

Increases the net aggregate trade since more items are available at cheaper prices
Improves employment opportunities
Easier to reach a consensus by being in a bloc

Question 13

Negatives of regional trade agreements

Answer 13

Takes jobs from the home country

Hill (2023) - floods the home country with cheaper substitute goods harming domestic companies

Higher immigration

There is a disproportionate impact in some areas, thus creating many problems as the gains are uneven (Rodrik 2018)

Question 14

Post war

Answer 14

Marshall plan - US aid payments to Western Europe - promote economic and trade recovery

Postwar European recovery was fast. Speeded up by the Marshall plan the rate of growth was the fastest ever seen In Europe

They recovered quickly through rapid re-industrialisation and trade in goods

Question 15

EU trade with non-members

Answer 15

Machinery and transport equipment 42.7%
Chemicals and related products 18%

Question 16

UK EU trade in numbers (HOC 2017)

Answer 16

Services accounted for 38% of the UKs exports to the EU in 2016

Wales exported the highest percentage of goods to the EU out of the UK

Question 17

Immigration on the campaign trail

Answer 17

UKIP had the aim of leaving the EU

This was a powerful message among voters

Question 18

EU migration (ONS 2021)

Answer 18

EU migration has dropped, with non-eu migration increasing

Question 19

Classic blame arguments in immigration debates

Answer 19

Immigrants take our jobs

The changing face of culture threatens our traditional ways

Immigrants bring crime to our country

Note the use of ‘our’ as a narrative tool to create the associated ‘other’ category

Question 20

Brexit and Trade

Answer 20

Exiting the EU limits access to our largest trading partner

Leave voters did not generally expect to win

Trade has steadily decreased with imports and exports

Question 21

Medium term impact of brexit

Answer 21

Reduced EU immigration

Introduced sovereignty over national laws and trade agreement

Lower levels of trade

Lower number of workers

Question 22

Context for considering de-integration

Answer 22

Anti-globalisation protests and the occupy wall street movements were born out of the 2007/2008 financial crisis

Question 23

The case for Internationalisation

Answer 23

Increasing gdp among trading nations

Declining poverty rates around the world are correlated with increased internationalisation

Question 24

The case against internationalisation

Answer 24

We have industry life cycles that leave communities heavily impacted for generations

Example - post industrial deprivation of wales

Question 25

The case against internationalisation and of regional integration

Answer 25

Shifts in trade from non-members to members of

Shift in employment - economic migration increases competition for low skilled work

Many people feel that the future will not be better economically

Question 26

Nationalism (De Cleen 2017)

Answer 26

It is constructed through an opposition between the nation and its out groups (De Cleen 2017)

Question 27

Populism

Answer 27

An antagonism between the ‘people’ and the ‘elite’

It claims to represent the people against some illegitimate elite

It is a powerful political tool - used by groups who claim to act for the people in order to gain power

Example such as trumps ‘drain the swamp’ campaign - get rid of the elite

Question 28

Nationalism

Answer 28

It creates in groups and out groups

It creates acceptable groups for us and we can take comfort by considering ourselves as members of this in-group

Question 29

WEF (2016)

Answer 29

There is creeping protectionism and societal unease

WEF finds evidence of declining openness since 2007

Question 30

NAFTA & Mexican Trucking (Hill 2023)

Answer 30

Because two thirds of cross-border trade within NAFTA goes by road there is debates about it
USA wanted new rules because Mexican truckers got more work as they were cheaper, tried to impose new standards on them, Mexico ended up having better standards so they removed them. This forced Mexico to retaliate and place tariffs on goods

Question 31

Rodrik (2018) - what do trade agreements really do

Answer 31

Free trade improves productive efficiency and offers customers better choices - over the long term these gains are much larger than any effects on employment

Harmonisation of standards makes agreement between country’s difficult - struggle to track capital flows between countries

Question 32

Behr (2017)

Answer 32

When remain voters warned about the economic consequences the attitude from leave voters was ‘that’s your gdp not mine’

Question 33

Remain voter facts

Answer 33

David Cameron was trying to state economic benefits - no one cares

Largely nationalist people who were born in the uk were an in group for UKIP and BOJO

Question 34

Poverty

Answer 34

Poverty is not a measure of equality it’s just the extreme of inequality

GDP rising meaning less poverty does not nessecarily mean as much in this instance

Question 35

Populism example EU

Answer 35

Brussels bureaucrats making the decision for our country even though they do not know what is going on?

BOJO - let’s take back control