What term describes countries linking their economies through shared rules?

• A. Globalization
• B. Economic Integration
• C. Free Trade
• D. EU (European Union)

Answer: (B)

The idea being tested is economic integration—the process by which countries coordinate and align their economic rules to reduce barriers and enable smoother trade and investment. When economies are linked through shared rules, standards, and institutions, it makes cross-border activity more predictable and efficient, from tariffs and customs procedures to regulatory standards and competition rules.

Globalization describes the broader trend of increasing global interconnectedness, not a specific mechanism of tying rules together. Free trade focuses on removing tariffs and quotas but doesn’t by itself require or imply a broader set of harmonized rules across all areas. The EU is a concrete example of economic integration, but it’s just one regional instance, whereas the concept described by the question is the general process of linking economies through shared rules.