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Monetary Union, Institutions and Financial Market Integration, Italy 1862-1905

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Author Info
Conte, Leandro
Toniolo, Gianni
Vecchi, Giovanni

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Abstract

The Paper draws its motivation from the observation that, three years into the single currency, EMU financial markets are making only slow progress towards integration and from the belief that economic history can offer useful insight as to the causes of the phenomenon. In this vein, we investigate a previous case of financial market integration in the wake of monetary unification, that of Italy after 1862. We find that the prices of the Rendita Italiana 5% (Italian Consols) across regional stock exchanges did not fully converge until 1887, twenty five years after the creation of a ‘monetary union’ in the peninsula. Regression analysis shows that variables such as the spread of ICT, trade volumes and the diffusion of the ‘single currency’ fail to explain the delay in financial market unification. We argue that markets remained relatively fragmented because local vested interests resisted the legal and regulatory changes needed to make arbitrage across individual stock exchanges efficient. A single Italian financial market appeared only when the State imposed more uniform financial market legislation nationwide, a fact that the EU should perhaps not overlook.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3684.

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Date of creation: Jan 2003
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3684

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Related research
Keywords: financial market integration; monetary union; nineteenth-century Italy; vested interests;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Collins, William J., 1999. "Labor Mobility, Market Integration, and Wage Convergence in Late 19th Century India," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 246-277, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou & Verboven, Frank, 2001. "The Evolution of Price Dispersion in the European Car Market," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 68(4), pages 811-48, October.
    Other versions:
  3. Bruce E. Hansen, 2001. "The New Econometrics of Structural Change: Dating Breaks in U.S. Labour Productivity," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 117-128, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. George J. Stigler, 1961. "The Economics of Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 69, pages 213. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Eichengreen, Barry, 2008. "Sui Generis EMU," CEPR Discussion Papers 6642, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Carlo Ciccarelli & Stefano Fenoaltea & Tommaso Proietti, 2008. "The Effects of Unification: Markets, Policy and Cyclical Convergence in Italy, 1861-1913," CEIS Research Paper 133, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 18 Nov 2008. [Downloadable!]
  3. Filippo Cesarano & Giulio Cifarelli & Gianni Toniolo, 2009. "Exchange Rate Regimes and Reserve Policy on the Periphery: The Italian Lira 1883-1911," Working Papers Series wp2009_11.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche. [Downloadable!]
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