Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
The United States of Europe: A Gravity Model Evaluation of the Four Freedoms
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 35,
no. 2, Spring 2021
(pp. 23–48)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
One of the pillars of the 1957 Treaty of Rome that ultimately led to the European Union is the commitment to the four freedoms of movement (goods, services, persons, and capital). Over the following decades, as the members expanded in numbers, they also sought to deepen the integration amongst themselves in all four dimensions. This paper estimates the success of these policies based primarily on a gravity framework. Distinct from past evaluations, we augment the traditional equation for international flows with the corresponding intra-national flows, permitting us to distinguish welfare-improving reductions in frictions from Fortress-Europe effects. We complement the gravity approach by measuring the extent of price convergence. We compare both quantity and price assessments of free movement with corresponding estimates for the 50 American states.Citation
Head, Keith, and Thierry Mayer. 2021. "The United States of Europe: A Gravity Model Evaluation of the Four Freedoms." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 35 (2): 23–48. DOI: 10.1257/jep.35.2.23Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- E02 Institutions and the Macroeconomy
- F15 Economic Integration
- R12 Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity
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