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Measuring the Economic Costs and Benefits of the EU

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Abstract

The EU has pursued protectionist policies not merely in food but also in manufacturing at the customs union level. In services it has not dismantled much of the existing national protectionism. The economic costs are calculated here at some 3% of GDP for the UK and some 2% for the rest of the EU. Added to its social interventionism, these costs suggest that the EU has put political integration before economic efficiency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiff Business School, United Kingdom

    Patrick Minford

  2. CEPR, United Kingdom

    Patrick Minford

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  1. Patrick Minford
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Additional information

This paper draws heavily on my book with Vidya Mahambare and Eric Nowell (Minford et al., 2005). I am grateful for helpful comments to Kim Huynh, Michele Fratianni and other participants at the IU 2006 conference in Fratianni’s honour. I contributed this paper in recognition of many pleasurable discussions with Michele over the years on this and many other topics.

JEL Classification Numbers: F13, F14

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Minford, P. Measuring the Economic Costs and Benefits of the EU. Open Econ Rev 17, 509–524 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11079-006-0362-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11079-006-0362-x

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