Kharkova L. Impact of customs unions on structural changes in the economies of countries-members.

In the work, the author conducts the analysis of theoretical and methodological basics in examining the economic effects of customs unions. Creation of modern customs unions may result in changes in amounts and structure of trade among countries-members and third countries, economies of scale, terms of trade, allocation of profit, price formation in light of escalating competition, investment flows, rates of economic growth, rates of modernization of national enterprises, proportions of pricing factors, institutional regulation, etc. The author analyzes the factors of development of modern customs unions and the reasons behind their declining occurrence among regional trade agreements. Namely such reasons are: the necessity of transfer of economic sovereignty to the supranational level; ineffectiveness of sources allocation in spheres protected by customs unions; different structure of national production and foreign economic relations of countries, etc. Moreover, the work includes systematization of possible structural changes in the economies of countries-members, which arise after the creation of customs unions. Trade effects of modern customs unions, their impact on structure of national economies and creation of international production networks are revealed in the work. The author further identifies the level of the development, level of regulatory convergence, development of innovative fields and complementarity of trade structure of countries as factors that influence structural changes in the economies of countries-members after creation of modern customs unions. Creation of customs unions with receptive internal market is a necessary precondition for effective participation of producers in internal and global production networks. Low receptiveness of the internal market of customs union creates barriers to development of global production networks in countries-members. Customs unions may increase functioning effectiveness of global productive networks within its countries-members by creating free trade agreements with third countries.