Borderless Europe Boosts Trade, Lifts Peripheral Economies
The Schengen Agreement in Europe aims to make it easier for goods, services, and people to move across borders. A study found that Schengen has increased trade by about 2.81%, on top of the EU's trade effects. This is like reducing tariffs by 0.46 to 1.02 percentage points. Services benefit more than goods, and countries on the edge of Europe benefit more than those in the middle. Other parts of European integration have a bigger impact on trade than Schengen.