The relationships between bank market consolidation and bank efficiency are of particular relevance in the European Union (EU), but they remain controversial. Using a panel Granger causality approach, this paper contributes to the literature, testing not only the causality running from bank...

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the research on the relationship between banking efficiency and European financial integration. It estimates cost translog frontier functions for two panels of European Union countries—one that includes all 27 member states and another composed of the...

The neutral theory of molecular evolution states that the accumulation of neutral mutations in the genome is fundamental for evolution to occur. The genetic representation of gene expression programming, an artificial genotype/phenotype system, not only allows the existence of non-coding regions...

The relationships between bank market concentration and bank efficiency are of particular relevance in the European Union (EU), but they remain controversial. Using a panel Granger causality approach, this paper contributes to the literature, testing not only the causality running from bank...

We assess the fiscal behaviour in the European Union countries for the period 1990- 2005 via the responsiveness of budget balances to several determinants. The results show that the existence of effective fiscal rules, the degree of public spending decentralization, and the electoral cycle can...

This paper uses polled panel OLS robust estimations with quarterly data for 26 EU countries from the 1980s until 2006, comparing the results of three panels of countries during different time periods. The results obtained confirm the high degree of integration among the EU financial systems and...

Using pooled panel OLS estimations and dynamic Arellano-Bond GMM estimations with quarterly data for 26 EU countries for the period from Q1 1999 to Q3 2006 this paper confirms the high degree of integration between the EU financial systems, as well as the importance of bank performance...

This paper confirms the importance of the financial systems behaviour conditions to the credit channel of monetary policy in the entire European Union (EU). It uses panel fixedeffect estimations and quarterly data for 26 EU countries for the period from Q1 1999 to Q3 2006 in an adaptation of the...

This paper contributes to the empirical investigation of the causality relations between real GDP growth and the growth of three debt categories, namely public, foreign and private debt, in the universe of the 28 European Union countries during the past decade. By using panel Granger causality...

Well-functioning financial markets and banking institutions are usually considered to be a condition favourable to economic growth. The importance of bank efficiency and bank market concentration has also been the object of discussion, with the general belief that while they are of particular...