Enlargement and the EU Periphery: The Impact of Changing Market Potential

27 Pages Posted: 29 Mar 2004

See all articles by Marius Brülhart

Marius Brülhart

University of Lausanne - School of Economics and Business Administration (HEC-Lausanne)

Matthieu Crozet

Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne - TEAM

Pamina Koenig

National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST)

Date Written: 2004

Abstract

We study the impact of changing relative market access in an enlarged EU on the economies of incumbent Objective 1 regions. First, we track the impact of external opening on internal spatial configurations in a three-region economic geography model. External opening gives rise to potentially offsetting economic forces, but for most parameter configurations it is found to raise the locational attractiveness of the region that is close to the external market. Then, we explore the relation between market access and economic activity empirically. We simulate the impact of enlargement on EU Objective 1 regions. Predicted market-access induced gains in regional GDP and manufacturing employment are up to seven times larger in regions proximate to the new accession countries than in "interior" EU regions. We also find that a future Balkans enlargement could be particularly effective in reducing economic inequalities among the EU periphery, due to the positive impact on relative market access of Greek regions.

Keywords: New economic geography, market potential, EU enlargement

JEL Classification: F12, F15, R12

Suggested Citation

Brulhart, Marius and Crozet, Matthieu and Koenig-Soubeyran, Pamina, Enlargement and the EU Periphery: The Impact of Changing Market Potential (2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=521223 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.521223

Marius Brulhart (Contact Author)

University of Lausanne - School of Economics and Business Administration (HEC-Lausanne) ( email )

Unil Dorigny, Batiment Internef
Lausanne, 1015
Switzerland
+41 21 692 3471 (Phone)
+41 21 692 3365 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.hec.unil.ch/mbrulhar/

Matthieu Crozet

Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne - TEAM ( email )

106-112 boulevard de l'hôpital
Cedex 13 Paris, P75647
France
+33 1 4407 8267 (Phone)
+33 1 4407 8267 (Fax)

Pamina Koenig-Soubeyran

National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST) ( email )

15 Boulevard Gabriel Peri
15 Boulevard Gabriel Peri
Malakoff Cedex, 1 92245
France

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