Financial integration, international portfolio choice and the European Monetary Union

Roberto De Santis () and Bruno Gérard

No 626, Working Paper Series from European Central Bank

Abstract: We investigate the determinants of bilateral international equity and bond portfolio reallocation across a large cross section of countries over the 1997 to 2001 period. We first argue that financial integration is not a global phenomenon, as equity and bond home biases declined significantly only among European countries, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Then, we show that the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) eased the access to the equity market and, to a larger extent, the bond market; thereby, enhancing regional financial integration in the euro area. Beside the effect of the EMU, the strongest determinants of the changes in portfolio weights are expected diversification benefits and the initial degree of underweight. JEL Classification: C13, C21, F37, G11

Keywords: EMU; home bias; International portfolio weights; Risk diversification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-05
Note: 185689
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (88)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:2006626

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