TY  - UNPD
A1  - Kiehlborn, Thomas
A1  - Mietzner, Mark
T1  - EU financial integration : is there a 'Core Europe'? ; evidence from a cluster-based approach
T2  - Universität Frankfurt am Main. Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften: [Working paper series / Finance and accounting] Working paper series, Finance & Accounting ; No. 130
N2  - Numerous recent studies, e.g. EU Commission (2004a), Baele et al. (2004), Adam et al.(2002), and the research pooled in ECB-CFS (2005), Gaspar, Hartmann, and Sleijpen(2003), have documented progress in EU financial integration from a micro-level view.This paper contributes to this research by identifying groups of financially integratedcountries from a holistic, macro-level view. It calculates cross-sectional dispersions, andinnovates by applying an inter-temporal cluster analysis to eight euro area countries for the period 1995-2002. The indicators employed represent the money, government bond and credit markets. Our results show that euro countries were divided into two stable groups of financially more closely integrated countries in the pre-EMU period. Back then, geographic proximity and country size might have played a role. This situation has changed remarkably with the euro's introduction. EMU has led to a shake-up both in the number and composition of groups. The evidence puts a question mark behin d using Germany as a benchmark in the post-EMU period. The ¯ndings suggest as well that ¯nancial integration takes place in waves. Stable periods and periods of intense transition alternate. Based on the notion of 'maximum similarity', the results suggest that there exist 'maximum similarity barriers'. It takes extraordinary events, such as EMU, to push the degree of ¯nancial integration beyond these barriers. The research encourages policymakers to move forward courageously in the post-FSAP era, and provides comfort that the substantial di®erences between the current and potentially new euro states can be overcome. The analysis could be extended to the new EU member countries, to the global level, and to additional indicators.
T3  - Working paper series / Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften : Finance & Accounting - 130 
KW  - Financial integration process
KW  - country groups
KW  - core Europe
KW  - cluster analysis
KW  - Europäische Union
KW  - Kreditmarkt
Y1  - 2005
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/3712
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-17611
N1  - First Version November 2004. This version March 16, 2005 (with updated graphs)
IS  - version March 16, 2005
PB  - Univ., Fachbereich Wirtschaftswiss.
CY  - Frankfurt am Main
ER  -