試探「歐體／歐盟」與「歐洲自由貿易協會」之貿易自由化的競爭

A Preliminary Analysis of Competition for Trade Liberalization between the EC/EU and EFTA

「競爭性自由化」雖是近來揭櫫之政策概念，但是「歐體／歐盟」與「歐洲自由貿易協會」（European Free Trade Association,EFTA）之間貿易自由化的競爭卻自第二次世界大戰後便已存在。過去研究大多聚焦於歐體／歐盟與美國間的「競爭性自由化」現象，卻鮮少探究歐體／歐盟貿易自由化對 EFTA 所造成的競爭壓力，進而促使 EFTA 對外洽簽自由貿易協定。本文旨在彌補既有文獻的缺憾，初步探索歐體／歐盟與 EFTA 之間貿易自由化的競爭。本文運用 EFTA 與第三國長期貿易量的客觀資料，以及 1960 年至 2002 年EFTA 部長理事會記錄之主觀資料，並建構統計模型，試圖說明歐體／歐盟貿易自由化與 EFTA 對外洽簽自由貿易協定的共變相關性。

Competition for trade liberalization is best explained by the concept of “competitive liberalization”. The concept is used to analyze whether the EC/EU’s trade liberalization has affected the decision of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) to sign free trade agreements (FTA) with third countries. In order for “competitive liberalization” to be initiated and imitated, we suggest that it is critical for decision-makers to attribute their countries’ lack of competitiveness to the liberalization measures of competitors. At the same time, decision makers must believe that the only way to rectify the situation is to join the competitive race by signing FTAs with trade partners. This being so, not only must objective trade data be used, but the subjective evaluations of decision makers must also be included to verify the competitive liberalization hypothesis