The Effects of Financial Integration on Structural Similarity: Consumption Risk-sharing and Specialization

Abstract

Using panel data for 17 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for the period 1983-2003, this paper investigates the effects of financial integration on specialization and international structural similarity. Theoretically, financial integration motivates countries to specialize on the basis of their comparative advantages and decreases the structural similarity between them. Our empirical analyses support the hypothesis.