We define and measure integration among a sample of 357 US banks over 25 years from 1993 to 2017 and show that the median US bank's integration has increased significantly post-2005. During the great recession and the Eurozone crisis, integration levels among US banks display a significant rise...

This paper presents a framework to understand and measure the effects of political borders on economic growth and per capita income levels. We present a model providing a theoretical foundation to estimate empirically the effects of political borders on growth. In our model, political...

We analyze the conduct of fiscal policy in a financially integrated union in the presence of financial frictions. Frictions create a wedge between the return to investment and the union interest rate. This leads to an over-spending externality. While the social cost of spending is the return to...

This paper surveys the recent political economy literature on countries' incentives to form international unions and/or to disintegrate in smaller jurisdictions. The main factors that affect these incentives are (i) economic integration, (ii) the international order, (iii) international...

This paper provides an overview of the key steps that were made in the European Union toward enhancing fiscal policy coordination and integration prior to the Covid-19 crisis. It especially highlights the key challenges and strategies that should be considered when thinking of further fiscal...