%0 Journal Article
%@ 0007-1234
%A Baccini, Leonardo
%A Duer, Andreas
%D 2011
%F eprints:23
%I Cambridge University Press
%J British Journal of Political Science
%K Preferential trade agreements, diffusion, spatial econometrics, regionalism, learning, policy interdependence
%P 1-23
%T The New Regionalism and Policy Interdependency
%U http://eprints.imtlucca.it/23/
%X Since 1990, the number of preferential trade agreements has increased rapidly. The argument in this article explains this phenomenon, known as the new regionalism, as a result of competition for market access; exporters facing trade diversion because of their exclusion from a preferential trade agreement concluded by foreign countries push their governments into signing an agreement with the country in which their exports are threatened. The argument is tested in a quantitative analysis of the proliferation of preferential trade agreements among 167 countries between 1990 and 2007. The finding that competition for market access is a major driving force of the new regionalism is a contribution to the literature on regionalism and to broader debates about global economic regulation.