In this paper we examine the relationship between the term structure of interest rates for six major European Union countries, to discover if the Exchange Rate Mechanism has lead to a converging of domestic term structures. We test this hypothesis using a model of international interest rate...

Currency substitution has important implications for the cost of European monetary union--if it is significant it will help to reduce costs of convergence to a single currency. This paper informs the policy debate by testing for its existence on a consistent European database making use of...

This paper rigorously investigates the determinants of bank competition for 146 countries over the sample period 1999–2011. The results employing both the Lerner index and the Boone indicator, reveal the distinctive characteristics of the competition drivers across different income groups of...