Assessment of international economic integration: methodological approaches with the selection of agricultural markets

Abstract

Over the past decades, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of integration groupings in the world, and regional trade agreements are concluded by countries of different levels of economic development on all continents. The benefits of integration contribute to this process, but it should be taken into account that realities do not always correspond to expectations, in addition, countries face a number of risks. Such associations as the European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and in Latin America - MERCOSUR have reached the highest level of development. Ukraine has also concluded regional trade agreements with dozens of countries and individual integration groups, in particular the EU and EFTA. Based on the above, the desire to benefit from international economic integration, the need to identify prospects, the feasibility of analysis, appropriate methods have been developed and applied. The aim of the study is to analyze methods for assessing international economic integration, taking into account the sectoral level, in particular the integration of agri-food markets. The article analyzes methodological approaches to determining the level of integration, integration criteria, outlines the consequences of integration from the standpoint of statistical effects, etc. The importance of using partial and general equilibrium models, gravitational models is emphasized. The possible consequences of international economic integration depending on the economic development of the member countries of the integration association are noted. It is proposed to calculate the indicator of integration assessment, which allows assessing trade in products within the grouping, and an algorithm has been developed to determine the impact of integration on foreign trade, taking into account the commodity and geographical structure of exports. The features of the analysis of the integration of agricultural markets are noted, the importance of using the index method for measuring the regional concentration of world trade is highlighted. The application of the above methods, conclusions and recommendations can help improve the assessment of integration processes and make decisions that will have a positive impact on the further development of integration.