INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC-INTEGRATION - PROGRESS, PROSPECTS AND IMPLICATIONS

While the extent of international economic integration is growing, this trend is neither new nor uniform. An economically borderless world does not now exist, nor is it in prospect; and the world economy today is further away from full integration than it was before the First World War. Whether and how far the trend towards integration will continue is not predetermined, but depends on governments. While so-called 'trade blocs' are unlikely to be a threat, the drift towards managed trade, especially in the United States and the EC, has yet to be reversed. The most difficult issues of integration relate to cross-border migration, which is now a leading item on the international agenda.