The integration of imperfect financial markets: Implications for business cycle volatility
Claudia M. Buch, C. Pierdzioch
Journal of Policy Modeling,
Nr. 7,
2005
Abstract
During the last two decades, the degree of openness of national financial systems has increased substantially. At the same time, asymmetries in information and other financial market frictions have remained prevalent. We study the implications of the opening up of national financial systems in the presence of financial market frictions for business cycle volatility. In our empirical analysis, we show that countries with more developed financial systems have lower business cycle volatility. Financial openness has no strong impact on business cycle volatility, in contrast. In our theoretical analysis, we study the implications of the opening up of national financial markets and of financial market frictions for business cycle volatility using a dynamic macroeconomic model of an open economy. We find that the implications of opening up national financial markets for business cycle volatility are largely unaffected by the presence of financial market frictions.
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The Impact of Institutions on the Employment Performance in European Labour Markets
Herbert S. Buscher, Christian Dreger, Raúl Ramos, Jordi Surinach
Discussion Paper No. 1732,
2005
Abstract
Der Beitrag untersucht die Bedeutung von institutionellen Regelungen auf den Arbeitsmärkten in den Staaten der EU. Da die Beschäftigungsquoten relativ unverändert blieben in der Vergangenheit, stellt sich Arbeitslosigkeit im wesentlichen als ein Problem der Arbeitsnachfrage dar. Die Arbeitsnachfrage enthält neben den üblichen Variablen weitere Variablen, die die institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen erfassen wie Gewerkschaftsdichte, Verhandlungsmacht, Steuer- und Abgabensystem, Maße der aktiven Arbeitsmarktpolitik etc.
Da zwischen den Modellvariablen Kointegrationsbeziehungen bestehen, werden die Gleichungen in Niveaus geschätzt. Die sich hieraus ergebenden Elastizitäten werden in einem zweiten Schritt dann durch institutionelle Variablen erklärt, was in einem Fixed-effects-Modell geschieht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass mit steigender Flexibilität des Arbeitsmarktes und mit wachsenden Anreizen für die Haushalte Arbeit aufzunehmen, die Beschäftigungsquoten zunehmen.
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The Impact of Technology and Regulation on the Geographical Scope of Banking
Hans Degryse, Steven Ongena
Oxford Review of Economic Policy,
Nr. 4,
2004
Abstract
We review how technological advances and changes in regulation may shape the (future) geographical scope of banking. We first review how both physical distance and the presence of borders currently affect bank lending conditions (loan pricing and credit availability) and market presence (branching and servicing). Next we discuss how technology and regulation have altered this impact and analyse the current state of the European banking sector. We discuss both theoretical contributions and empirical work and highlight open questions along the way. We draw three main lessons from the current theoretical and empirical literature: (i) bank lending to small businesses in Europe may be characterized both by (local) spatial pricing and resilient (regional and/or national) market segmentation; (ii) because of informational asymmetries in the retail market, bank mergers and acquisitions seem the optimal route of entering another market, long before cross-border servicing or direct entry are economically feasible; and (iii) current technological and regulatory developments may, to a large extent, remain impotent in further dismantling the various residual but mutually reinforcing frictions in the retail banking markets in Europe. We conclude the paper by offering pertinent policy recommendations based on these three lessons.
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