How has the process of international economic integration advanced over the last four decades? How will the foreseeable future look like? We attempt to answer this sort of questions by considering some methods which have scarcely been used in the literature on globalization. First, we consider a...

This article features a set of indicators designed to measure international economic integration and globalization. We analyze the degree of openness and the respective networks of connections---both direct and indirect---for each economy in our sample. Our indicators are based on network...

The aim of this article is to develop new international financial integration indicators together with their determinants: financial openness and regularity (balance) of the bilateral financial flows. The study's contribution is based on the definition of the Standard of Perfect Financial...

Over the last two decades, the degree of international financial integration has increased substantially, becoming an important area of research for many financial economists. This paper explores the determinants of the asymmetries in the international integration of banking systems. We consider...

One of the most remarkable features of globalization is the boost undergone by international trade triggered off by advances in technology that have contributed to reduce the cost of trade (e.g., transportation and communication costs). Under these circumstances, the importance of distance...

We analyse overall cost efficiency in Spanish local governments during the crisis period (2008-2015). To this end, we first consider some of the most popular nonparametric methods to evaluate local government efficiency, data envelopment analysis and free disposal hull, as well as recent...

Over the last twenty years, the Spanish banking industry has been deeply reshaped in several respects. One of the features that has allowed for it has been the geographic expansion of most savings banks, which could not enter other markets different from their natural market before 1989. Since...

There is a large literature on the existence of agglomeration economies, as shown in the surveys by Moomaw (1983) or Gerking (1993). The benefits of these economies arise from multiple sources, but some negative externalities might also emerge. Within the hierarchical urban system, cities at...

After the financial crisis of 2007-2008, some bank performance dimensions have been the subject of debate, two of which are bank efficiency and bank risk-taking behavior. The literature on bank efficiency and productivity has grown considerably over the past three decades, and has gained...

In recent years the European airline industry has undergone critical restructuring. It has evolved from a highly regulated market predominantly operated by national airlines to a dynamic, liberalized industry where airline firms compete freely on prices, routes, and frequencies. Although several...