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Sequencing and Depth of Regional Economic Integration: Lessons for the Americas from Europe

The paper first reviews Europe's experience with regional integration, stressing the political economy forces that governed the direction and speed of the process. It argues that the geographic spread of economic integration in Europe is driven by a domino effect by which each successive integration increases the pressure on non-participants to join the integration effort. On the depth of integration, the paper argues that the path of European integration from completion of the customs union, to the Single Market program, to the Maastricht Treaty and monetary union was dictated by a political economy dynamo set in motion by the unique institutional features established by the 1957 Treaty of Rome. Consequently, the lessons for other regions must be considered with great care.