Free Trade Agreements and competitiveness, an alternative reading from the new economic geography

Abstract

Thanks to globalization, there are different patterns within the New Economic Geography, which explains the causality of phenomena of economic agglomeration in particular geographical areas, which lead to the strengthening of world economic powers. Within the World Trade Organization are the trade agreements. These agreements have become a framework for bilateral negotiations, in which topics in order to optimize trade relations, which are governed by certain international treaties. The problem developed in the paper is, how intellectual properties issues work together with these agreements and, in turn, how the WTO-plus generate an environment of fierce competition where countries with economic capabilities, such as Colombia, must face a refined economic clusters such as the European Union and subject to its rules; which affects national competitiveness.