Sep 21, 2010

Articles in journals

Ferreira, C.

3

17

This paper is a contribution to the empirical analysis of the link between financial intermediation and economic growth, more precisely the real GDP per capita growth, in the context of the European Union and particularly in the context of the recent enlargement to new member-states, but just before the last financial and economical crisis. We use panel fixed effects estimates considering two sub-sets of EU countries: the first comprises 11 “old” EU countries, (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom) for the period between Q1 1980 and Q3 2006; the second panel includes 26 EU countries, excluding only Luxembourg, for the period between Q1 1999 and Q3 2006. The results obtained allow us to draw conclusions not only on the importance of the considered financial variables to economic growth, but also on the level of integration in the two considered sub-sets. There is evidence of financial integration in the form of the similarities in the behaviour of the different countries, in spite of their different initial conditions.

Financial Systems,Financial Integration,Panel Estimates,European Union