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Varieties of regional integration, international trade networks and risk
Author(s) -
SenoAlday Sandra
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the world economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.594
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1467-9701
pISSN - 0378-5920
DOI - 10.1111/twec.12831
Subject(s) - vulnerability (computing) , regional integration , economic integration , commodity , economic geography , regional trade , international trade , european union , economics , regional science , geography , computer science , free trade , computer security , market economy
This paper explores the relationship between regional integration models and trade network structures. The paper further investigates the implications of these trade relationship configurations on risk. The exploratory study models the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as networks: countries in each region are nodes connected by lines representing commodity trade flows. The study compares the evolution of the two regional networks over a 25‐year period (1990–2014). The results confirm that different regional integration models lead to differently structured economic relationships. The findings show that loosely coupled networks are vulnerable to the failure of a few connected nodes ( concentrated vulnerability ), but that tightly coupled regional networks are vulnerable to the failure of any of its nodes ( random vulnerability ). These unique differences in vulnerability have critical implications for managing economic risk.