Theories of Economic Integrtaion: A Survey of the Economic and Political Literature

This paper aims at presenting a survey of the literature on economic integration theories, both from an economic and a political perspective with a special attention to the case of developing countries. More specifically, we start by defining economic integration, and its forms. Then, a survey of theories of economic integration, both traditional and new is presented in section two. Section three focuses on economic integration theories adjusted to the special needs of developing countries. Section four discusses the political incentives or determinants of economic integration. Finally, section five provides an executive summary and concludes.