Western European trade as a measure of integration: untangling the interpretations

Past utilization of foreign trade data as an indicator of integrative behavior and tendencies in Western Europe and especially in the Common Market provides a good illustration of a situation in which different analysts use the same data to support contradictory conclusions. This fact argues for a closer look at both the methodology and the interpretation of such data. On a technical plane the fact that substantial interpretative differences can result simply from statistical technique should caution the analyst to ensure that his statistical manipulations are the ones most appropriate for showing the effects in which he is interested. More