Using newly collected discount rate data for six Swiss cities, we find no evidence of increasing integration during a 30-year period of lightly regulated free banking. We attribute this to two structural issues: banks had incentives to protect their local monopolies, and the inherent instability...

This paper studies the effects of harmonizing collateral policy in a monetary union. In 2007, the European Central Bank replaced national collateral lists with a single list specifying which assets euro area banks can pledge as collateral. Banks holding newly eligible assets experience a...

Does central bank collateral policy contribute to financial market integration? We address this question by exploiting that, in 2007, the European Central Bank replaced national collateral frameworks by a single list. Under the single list regime, euro area banks could pledge all euro area bank...