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Free trade agreements and market integration: Evidence from South Korea

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  • Lim, Eun Son
  • Breuer, Janice Boucher

Abstract

We consider the effects of free trade agreements on market integration between South Korea and its solo and trade-bloc FTA partners. Free trade agreements should reduce tariffs and trade costs and lead to faster home-to-foreign price convergence. We investigate these ideas with a non-linear self-exciting threshold autoregressive (TAR) model, by introducing a threshold break at the effective FTA date. This strategy allows us to consider: (1) whether trade costs have declined after the free trade agreement; and (2) whether the speed of mean reversion in the home-foreign price differential is faster after the FTA. Our study includes nine of South Korea’s free trade agreements and covers twenty-eight partner countries. We find evidence that after free trade agreements, trade costs have been reduced for nine countries, providing evidence that greater market integration has been achieved on this score. However, evidence on whether the speed of home-to-foreign price convergence increases after free trade agreements is lacking.

Suggested Citation

  • Lim, Eun Son & Breuer, Janice Boucher, 2019. "Free trade agreements and market integration: Evidence from South Korea," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 241-256.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jimfin:v:90:y:2019:i:c:p:241-256
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jimonfin.2018.09.010
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    2. Obed Fernando Izaguirre & Seungho Shin & Duygu Zirek, 2024. "Trade Agreements and Financial Market Integration in Latin America and the US," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-26, March.
    3. Guo, Jinggang & Johnston, Craig M.T., 2021. "Do protectionist trade policies integrate domestic markets? Evidence from the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber dispute," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    4. Carlos Abreo & Ricardo Bustillo & Carlos Rodriguez, 2022. "An empirical analysis of Colombia's trade liberalization process and its effect on the equilibrium of its structural trade deficit," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 736-755, May.
    5. R. M. Ammar Zahid & Can Simga‐Mugan, 2024. "The impact of International Financial Reporting Standards adoption on the integration of capital markets," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 229-250, January.

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