Economic integration, efficiency and economic growth: the European Union experience

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effect of the process of progressive economic integration among the countries of Europe on their economic evolution, paying special attention to gains in efficiency and productivity. We use a nonparametric frontier technique together with the construction of Malmquist indices to permit analysis of the contribution of efficiency to gains in productivity. For this purpose we study the evolution of the countries of the European Union and the impact on efficiency and productivity of the successive expansions during the period 1965–90.