The paper examines proposals for euro bonds. The aim is to highlight the broader context of various proposals and, in particular, to assess their impact less as a solution to the problems of the current economic and financial conjuncture and, more, to focus on their long-term consequences for...

The euro area has faced a high number of monetary and policy changes in the recent past as a consequence of the European integration process and, naturally, these developments have important implications for portfolio diversification and asset pricing. Therefore, this paper concentrates on the...

This paper investigates the impact of the euro on corporate valuations in Greece. Previous empirical results for the ten countries that founded the Monetary Union (EMU) uncovered various positive effects of the common currency. Greece who joined EMU later, coming from a weaker macroeconomic...

We discuss past performance and future challenges for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We highlight the successful convergence process of those countries, not least thanks to their integration into European and global value chains. As the external environment changes, so...

The EU Single Market remains far from completed: progress in goods and services market integration has stalled, financial markets are still fragmented along national lines and the barriers to labour mobility remain high. Restrictive regulation within countries and regulatory heterogeneity across...

This paper examines the integration of stock markets in Germany, France, Netherlands, Ireland and UK over January 1973-August 2008 at the aggregate market and industry level considering the following industries: basic materials, consumer goods, industrials, consumer services, health care and...

The present paper has two aims. The first aim is to test whether six new member states of the European Union (the six Central and Eastern European Countries) form an optimum currency area (OCA) with the eurozone, in an attempt to assess their readiness for euro adoption. The second aim is to...

This paper analyses some long-run macroeconomic effects of European financial integration. In particular we focus on the further reduction and abolition of cross-border barriers impeding the entry into the markets of banking and insurance products. We follow a theoretical as well as an empirical...

This paper analyses the consequences of the process of financial and economic integration on European equity markets. It documents significant changes in fundamentals, notably an increased synchronisation of macroeconomic activities, and a non-negligible evolution in pricing, with a decrease in...