degree of sovereignty to the Union Members of the European Union can trade as freely with each other as can states within the United States Just as the U.S Constitution prohibits states from restricting trade with other states, the European Union has dismantled all forms of restrictions that countries within the Union used to impose on one another Just as restrictions on specialization among Ms Ryder’s plants in Alpine Sports would have forced it to operate inside its production possibilities curve, restrictions that had existed among members of the European Union once put the members of the Union inside their collective production possibilities curve The experiment appears to have been a success Trade among member nations has expanded sharply A study by Carmen Diaz Mora, an economist at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain, found that the bulk of the expanded trade within the Union was trade within industries and that it was driven by comparative advantage In particular, she found that countries in the northern part of the Union, such as France and Germany, tended to specialize in relatively high-valued goods—office equipment and electrical goods—while countries in the southern part of the Union specialized in relatively low-valued goods such as food and textile products In trade within the clothing industry, countries such as Italy tend to specialize in the production of higher-valued clothing, while lowerincome countries such as Portugal specialize in the production of cheaper clothing In sparkling wines, France specializes in the higher-quality end of the spectrum, while Spain specializes in the low-quality end Similarly, Germany specializes in the production of higher-quality cars while Spain specializes in lower-quality vehicles Similar exchanges occur across a wide range of goods and services Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books/ Saylor.org 107