European Economic Integration: Assessing Benefits from State Size Perspective

Abstract

This empirical paper focuses on the analysis of economic benefits of European integration processes. A gap exists on the research that addresses the specific benefits of states involved in the economic integration processes. Thus, paper focuses on the analysis of benefits Slovenia has from European economic integration, and benchmark analysis is performed, taking Poland as example. This context serves for the comparison of effects and benefits of economic integration concerning smaller and larger states. Namely, there is an assumption that economic integration should have different state-specific effects, where state size is one of the attributes that significantly channels these effects. The results show that Slovenia benefited much more entering the single market in comparison to Poland. This suggests that single market might serve as an economic shelter for smaller states, and thus generates relatively larger benefits for them in comparison to larger states.