Assignment

Regional Integration, Trade, and Capital Flows

This week you are exploring the issues that surround the formation of regional economic agreements. You are also considering the idea that multiple levels of economic integration are possible.

To prepare for this Discussion, look at the multiple levels of economic integration and their effects on countries, regions, and trade.

Post by Day 3 your general findings about regional agreements, including your answers to these questions:

• How do regional trade agreements affect labor, financial, physical, and intellectual capital mobility?
• In what ways do these agreements increase capital and resource mobility and expansion decisions?
• In what ways do they cause trade diversion versus trade expansion?

Provide a specific example of the effect of a regional agreement on a company's production/facility location decisions or capital flows (or your assessment of a possible effect based on decisions made by the company) and explain how that decision in turn likely affected trade flows (exports and imports). Be sure to address the three questions above in your analysis of your example.

General Guidance on Discussion Posts: Your original post, due by Day 3, will typically be 3–4 paragraphs in length as a general expectation/estimate. Refer to the Week 3 Discussion rubric for grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use the rubric to assess your work.