ABSTRACT
Regionalism takes various forms. In most regional agreements liberalization in the movement of goods and services forms the cornerstone of such agreements. The flexibility with regard to the movement of factors of production and firms varies from agreement to agreement, and the liberalizations on these fronts are typically phased in. For example, in the European Union, since the introduction of the single market, there are no institutional restrictions on the movement of either labour or capital. Although the mobility of capital has increased significantly because of the removal of all restrictions, the mobility of labour has been disappointingly limited.
