چکیده:
In May 2004, ten countries joined the European Union. Most of these countries
that are located in the central and eastern part of Europe have different
historical background and economic structure, compared to the older EU members.
Doubt, the economic consequences of the enlargement of the EU toward Eastern
Europe, is one of the main interests of the researchers in recent years and it
will be extended well over the first decades of the new Millennium.
With the expansion of Eu, the implications of regional economic cooperation and
competition for all EU members, in terms of resource allocation, the
concentration of economic activities and its welfare consequences, depends upon
utilization of economic resources. Effective utilization of resources in turn,
rests upon realization and exploitation of comparative advantage in different
arrays of economic activity. Given the fact that most of the old members of the
EU have relatively a well-established, internationally competitive industrial
base, with their manufacturing firms closer to the technological frontier
whereas the new members are endowed with more heterogeneous natural resources
and more diversified agricultural products, the potentials of agricultural trade
seems to exist for the hew corners for the years to come.
The main purpose of this paper is to measure the degree and the extent of
comparative advantages in agricultural crop production and to compare the
results for the old and new members. The Bowen comparative advantage index as
well as a simple regression model will be used in this regard. This
demonstration will highlight the relative strengths of the new members in
exploiting their agricultural trade potential and may help to formulate
effective policies for domestic production, distribution and marketing
activities in the enlarged EU for further exploitation of potential agricultural
commodities trade.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"In agriculture, as in other sectors, a gradual process of adaptation has been taking place for many years through Association Agreements (allowing freer trade between the OMS and NMS members), and pre-accession funding by the EU of rural development and agri-food industry restructuring programs in the acceded countries.
In the simplest case, involving only two countries, two commodities and two factors, a straightforward application of the RCA model can be expected to yield a deterministic relationship between comparative advantage and trade, production and consumption.
The Model The method of estimating RCA in this paper is based primarily on the Bowen''''s and Balassa''''s comparative advantage indices to reveal agricultural trade potentials among EU-25 member countries.
These crops include barley, bran, cereals, maize, millet, oats, onion, peas, pimento, pulses, rape and mustard cake, sorghum, soya beans, sunflower seed, tomatoes, all type of vegetables and wheat.
In order to evaluate the degree of exploitation of comparative advantage in trade of agricultural crops, the following regression was estimated for the OMS and NMS separately, by pooling commodity-country data in each group, comprising only those crops for which the Bowen RCA index has shown to be positive.
This is expected since the OMS is comprised of advanced European countries taking advantage of a free trading zone for a long time, whereas the recent accession of the NMS, with a less developed economic structure, to the EU, has just provided the opportunity for them to exploit their comparative advantage and enhance trade for the years to come."