Economic integration
Economic integration is an arrangement among nations that typically includes the reduction or elimination of trade barriers and the coordination of monetary and fiscal policies. Economic integration aims to reduce costs for both consumers and producers and to increase trade between the countries involved in the agreement. Economic integration is sometimes referred to as regional integration, as it often occurs among neighboring nations. When regional economies agree on integration, trade barriers fall and economic and political coordination increases. Specialists in this area define seven stages of economic integration: a preferential trading area, a free trade area, a customs union, a common market, an economic union, an economic and monetary union, and complete economic integration. The final stage represents a total harmonization of fiscal policy and a complete monetary union [Investopedia].
Economic integration, a process in which two or more states in a broadly defined geographic area reduce a range of trade barriers to advance or protect a set of economic goals. The level of integration involved in an economic regionalist project can vary enormously from loose association to a sophisticated, deeply integrated economic space. It is in its political dimension that economic integration differs from the broader idea of regionalism in general. Although economic decisions go directly to the intrinsically political question of resource allocation, an economic region can be deployed as a technocratic tool, by the participating government to advance a clearly defined and limited economic agenda without requiring more than minimal political alignment or erosion of formal state sovereignty. The unifying factor in the different forms of economic regionalism is thus the desire by the participating states to use a wider, sense of space to advance national economic interests [Encyclopedia Britannica].
Kenton., W. (2022). Economic Integration Definition and Real World Example. Investopedia. Retrieved from: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economic-integration.asp
Economic integration. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/economic-integration