Home Bias and Market Integration in the EU
Posted: 17 Mar 2009
Date Written: March 2009
Abstract
The Single Market has been one of the core policies of the European Union. Twenty years after the launch of the Single Market Programme national borders still matter in Europe. Consumption baskets and investment portfolios of European countries still contain a predominant share of home products and equity. This article evaluates the success of integration policies in the European Union by assessing the magnitude and evolution of home bias across Europe in goods and services markets and in equity portfolio holdings. There are large differences in the degree of home bias across European countries. More worrisome is that home bias in goods and services has barely changed in recent years. This might indicate that traditional integration policies are no longer effective and need to be transformed to continue delivering. (JEL Codes: D78, F15, F21, F36)
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