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How wide are European borders? On the integration effects of monetary unions

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  • Weber, Axel A.
  • Beck, Guenter

Abstract

We use consumer price data for 81 European cities (in Germany, Austria, Finland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland) to study the impact of the introduction of the euro on goods market integration. Employing both aggregated and disaggregated consumer price index (CPI) data we confirm previous results which showed that the distance between European cities explains a significant amount of the variation in the prices of similar goods in different locations. We also find that the variation of relative prices is much higher for two cities located in different countries than for two equidistant cities in the same country. Under the EMU, the elimination of nominal exchange rate volatility has largely reduced these border effects, but distance and border still matter for intra-European relative price volatility.

Suggested Citation

  • Weber, Axel A. & Beck, Guenter, 2003. "How wide are European borders? On the integration effects of monetary unions," CFS Working Paper Series 2001/07, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cfswop:200107
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Horváth, Julius & Rátfai, Attila & Döme, Botond, 2008. "The border effect in small open economies," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 33-45, March.
    2. Peter Huber & Michael Pfaffermayr & Yvonne Wolfmayr, 2011. "Are There Border Effects in the EU Wage Function?," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 2, pages 23-41, June.
    3. Fabio Busetti & Lorenzo Forni & Andrew Harvey & Fabrizio Venditti, 2007. "Inflation Convergence and Divergence within the European Monetary Union," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 3(2), pages 95-121, June.
    4. Jan-Egbert Sturm & Ulrich Fritsche & Michael Graff & Michael Lamla & Sarah Lein & Volker Nitsch & David Liechti & Daniel Triet, 2009. "The euro and prices: changeover-related inflation and price convergence in the euro area," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 381, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    relative price volatility; real exchange rates; law of one price; purchasing power parity; goods market integration; border effects; EMU;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F02 - International Economics - - General - - - International Economic Order and Integration
    • F40 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - General
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics

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