Introduction
Economic integration is the bind of economic policies between different states through the partial or full abolition of tariff and non-tariff restrictions on trade taking place among them prior to their integration. (Balassa, 1967) The focus of economic integration is to lower the costs for both consumers and producers, as well as to increase trade between the countries taking part in the agreement. Economics integration and regional integration are very similar in many ways. Economic integration has a strong tie with regional integration.
Regional Integration is a method in which two or more states or nations form conformity to work collectively to create a mutual strength, wealth, and peace among each other. It is also an alleyway that persuades trades among the two or more states or nations by reducing the cost of trading and investments in this newly formed region. (De Lombaerde and Van Langenhove, 2007) The five main types of economic integrations are the free trade, the custom union, the common market, the economic union, and the political union. The free trade area (FTA) is the lowest level out of the five. It is a group of countries that dissipate trade barriers among themselves while each nation still upholds dissimilar external policies regarding toward nonmembers. The customs union is the next level up. With the addition to the framework of FTA, the custom union enforces common external policies on the nonparticipant members in order to fight trade diversion. The common market is the addition to what custom union offers. It authorizes the free movement of goods and people among the participating nations. The economic union is the accumulation to the features of the common market. The members fuse their economies into one by fixing the monetary, fiscal, and taxation policies. The policy union is
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