Economic integration in NAFTA and the EU

the long version

This book offers a unique, authoritative and critical comparison of regional economic integration. It demonstrates that economic integration is not an automatic process - institutions must handle the integration process. This book argues that the institutions established in both Europe and America are deficient in several respects. Not only are the 'side effects' of free trade on labour markets and social and environmental conditions inadequately addressed, the economic integration projects are actually undermining some of the core institutions that serve the needs of the market economies - institutions upon which the integration process itself depends.