Unilateral Liberalization versus Regional Integration

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.