ECONOMIC-INTEGRATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT - COMPARISON OF LATIN-AMERICAN PROCESSES AND THE EUROPEAN-COMMUNITY

We examine the impact of economic integration on the degree of development of those countries in the process of LAFTA-ALADI, CACM-MCCA and European Community integration. The most important results are that, according to calculations consistent with our methodology which, in turn, is based upon the application of multivariate methods, the most integrated Latin American countries are those that have experienced the greatest reduction in their level of development while the least integrated countries are the ones whose development level has most increased. In Europe, the least developed and most recently integrated countries, although their level of development has increased, this increase has been less than that experienced by the more developed countries. As a consequence, it is concluded that economic integration between countries signifies a new division of intra-communital labor, none the less does not affect the countries level of development.