The Cross-Border Integration of Markets and International Business

Abstract

This paper reviews economic evidence concerning the international integration of markets and concludes that most measures of market integration have scaled new heights in the last few decades but still fall far short of economic theory's ideal of perfect integration. Intermediate levels of cross-border integration enhance the prospects of international business as a distinct field of study, since such situations cannotunlike situations of either complete segmentation or complete integrationbe folded back into the single-country base case that is the staple of much of business analysis. And within the intermediate category, situations in which international economic integration is increasing also imply increasing interest in international business over time.