Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
5066875 European Economic Review 2013 9 Pages PDF
Abstract

•This paper considers the integration of economies as a merger of populations.•The merger of groups of people alters their social landscape and their comparators.•The paper identifies the effect of the merger on aggregate distress.•A merger is shown to increase aggregate distress, measured as aggregate relative deprivation.•Physiological evidence points to an increase in societal stress upon merger.

This paper considers the integration of economies as a merger of populations. The premise is that the merger of groups of people alters their social landscape and their comparators. The paper identifies the effect of the merger on aggregate distress. A merger is shown to increase aggregate distress, measured as aggregate relative deprivation: the social distress of a merged population is greater than the sum of the social distress of the constituent populations when apart. Physiological evidence from neighboring disciplines points to an increase in societal stress upon merger.

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Related Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities Economics, Econometrics and Finance Economics and Econometrics
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