Abstract
Economic gains from trade integration channel through inward or outward multilateral resistance terms, hence through consumption or production effects. But these impacts differ in their relative intensity among members of the integrated region, which leads to asymmetric outcomes. We study these asymmetric effects of European integration on the exports vs. imports of the members of the Single Market and obtain disaggregated asymmetric EU estimates for 170 industries. The econometric analysis delivers a rich database of more than 9,300 estimates of the EU effects on trade among its members. Three main findings emerge from our analysis. First, previous estimates where asymmetries were silenced underestimated the gains from EU integration. Second, these asymmetries in the effects of the Single Market on the members’ trade are very large. Third, the EU has benefited disproportionately the consumers in older/richer members and the producers in the new/poorer joiners.