Suggested answer to case study discussion question
Postwar Trade Integration in Europe: The EU had 28 member countries as of 2014. There are
four groups of countries that could be candidates the join the EU.
First, there are several relatively high-income Western European countries, including
Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland, that are not members of the EU but could join in the future.
None of these countries seems to be eager to join, though Iceland did pursue accession talks for a
few years after its banking crisis of 2008.
Second, there are a number of countries in the Balkans, including Serbia, Montenegro,
Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, that are or could be candidates to join
the EU. Serbia is the largest of these, it is in accession negotiations with the EU, and it may be
the most likely next country to join the EU. Montenegro is also in accession negotiations.
Third, there are several countries of the former Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, including
Ukraine and Moldova, that could be candidates for EU membership. These countries are still
years from even starting accession negotiations.
Fourth, Turkey has been in accession negotiations since 2005, but with only modest progress.
Political changes seem to have made it less likely, but Turkey has a chance to be the next country
to join the EU.
Suggested answers to end of chapter questions and problems
1. Members of a customs union have the same tariff on each category of imported good or
service, regardless of which member country receives the imports. In this case, there is no
need to scrutinize goods that move between countries in the customs union, even if the
product might have been imported from outside the union.
2. No. The most favored nation principle states that any trade policy concession given by a
country to any foreign country must be given to all other foreign countries having MFN
3. Trade creation is the increase in total imports resulting from the formation of a trade
bloc. Trade creation occurs because importing from the partner country lowers the
price in the importing country, so that some high-cost domestic production is replaced
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