European stock market integration under EMU

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to highlight the degree of European stock market integration. We structured our research on two sections obeying the following order: the first one presents some considerations of the academic literature studying the field and the second analyses the main financial indicators of stock market integration, namely venture capital, price based and quantitative indicators. Our concluding remarks show that regional euro-integration has proceeded more quickly than worldwide integration. At the same time, the level of the variance explained by common factors reveals that local shocks are still important. Quantity-based measures of euro-area equity market integration point out to a rising degree of integration. Since the introduction of the common currency Eurozone (EZ) investors have partially reallocated their equity portfolio from domestic holdings to holdings elsewhere within the EZ.financial integration; stock market; consolidation; home bias; economic and monetary union.