Estimating Time-Varying Capital Market Integration In The EMU

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect of the European monetary unification and economic liberalization in a sample of three EMU (France, Germany, Netherlands) and two non-EMU (U.K. and Switzerland) countries, as well as the European market index and a currency index, using data from March 1984 to November 2002. We utilize a multivariate GARCH framework and estimate jointly all parameters in the model. The study reveals that financial markets in Europe followed a gradual integration process. We also find that the Euro countries generally display higher degrees of market integration compared to the non-Euro countries in our sample.