Measuring European Economic Integration

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Measuring European Economic Integration Measuring European Economic Integration Dissertation zur Erlangung des wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Doktorgrades der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen vorgelegt von JÖRG KÖNIG aus Kilchberg, Schweiz Göttingen, 2014 Erstgutachterin: Prof. Dr. Renate Ohr Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Rübel Drittprüfer: Prof. Dr. Olaf Korn Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 23. Januar 2014 II „Glück ist einerseits das Ziel allen menschlichen Strebens und Sehnens, andererseits der Zufall, das Geschick, das jenem Ziel den Inhalt gibt.“ Aristoteles (384 – 322 v. Chr.) III Danksagung Während der Erstellung meiner Dissertation haben mich viele Personen unterstützt. Bei all jenen möchte ich mich an dieser Stelle von Herzen bedanken. Mein größter Dank gilt Frau Prof. Dr. Renate Ohr für eine sehr spannende und schöne Zeit an ihrem Lehrstuhl. Ihr Vertrauen und ihre Geduld gaben mir den notwendigen Rückhalt für die Gestaltung meiner Forschungsarbeit. Auf ihre umfassende Betreuung und hilfreiche Unterstützung bei fachlichen und persönlichen Fragen konnte ich mich jederzeit verlassen. Für die lehrreiche Zusammenarbeit bei gemeinsamen Projekten sowie für die vielen konstruktiven und netten Gespräche möchte ich ihr ebenfalls herzlich danken. Ich werde ihr und ihrem Lehrstuhl immer sehr verbunden bleiben. Darüber hinaus bedanke ich mich sehr bei Herrn Prof. Dr. Gerhard Rübel und bei Herrn Prof. Dr. Olaf Korn für ihre Bereitschaft, in der Prüfungskommission zu agieren, für die schnelle Begutachtung meiner Dissertation und für die angenehme Disputation, die ich in sehr positiver Erinnerung behalten werde. Ein ganz besonderer Dank gilt meinen Kollegen am Lehrstuhl, deren Türen für mich und meine Fragen stets offen standen und die mir über die Jahre liebevolle Weggefährten geworden sind. Ihnen wünsche ich für ihren weiteren Weg alles erdenklich Gute und viel Erfolg. Viele gute Freunde habe ich an der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen dazugewinnen können. Ihre ständige Gesprächsbereitschaft, ihre unkomplizierte Art, ihre Hilfsbereitschaft und ihre ausgelassene Fröhlichkeit machten mir stets Mut und Freude. Meine Dankbarkeit gilt dabei besonders Dr. Maximilian Riedl, Markus Stahl, Mehmet Özalbayrak und Tim Ehlers. Eine herausragende Stellung in jeder Hinsicht nehmen meine Frau und meine Familie ein. Die vergangenen Jahre waren für sie nicht weniger aufreibend. Ohne ihre bedingungslose Liebe und Unterstützung wäre meine Dissertation nicht entstanden. Ihnen widme ich diese Arbeit. IV Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................... VII List of Tables .................................................................................................................... VIII List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................................... IX 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 2 Different Efforts in European Economic Integration: Implications of the EU Index ......................................................................................... 10 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 11 2.2 Why Another Index? ................................................................................................ 12 2.3 Indicators of European Economic Integration .......................................................... 14 2.3.1 Indicators of EU Single Market ..................................................................... 15 2.3.2 Indicators of EU Homogeneity ...................................................................... 15 2.3.3 Indicators of EU Symmetry ........................................................................... 16 2.3.4 Indicators of EU Conformity ......................................................................... 17 2.4 Statistical Approach .................................................................................................. 18 2.4.1 Data and Normalization ................................................................................. 18 2.4.2 Weighting Procedure ..................................................................................... 21 2.5 Results of the EU Index ............................................................................................ 24 2.6 Robustness of the Results ......................................................................................... 27 2.6.1 Sensitivity Analysis ....................................................................................... 27 2.6.2 Comparison with Other Indices ..................................................................... 30 2.7 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 32 2.8 Appendix .................................................................................................................. 33 3 Effects of European Economic Integration on the Quality of Life ............................ 37 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 38 3.2 Data and Methodology ............................................................................................. 42 3.3 Hypotheses ................................................................................................................ 46 3.3.1 EU Single Market .......................................................................................... 46 3.3.2 EU Homogeneity ........................................................................................... 47 3.3.3 EU Symmetry ................................................................................................ 48 3.3.4 EU Conformity .............................................................................................. 49 3.3.5 Overall Level of European Economic Integration ......................................... 50 V VI 3.4 Empirical Results ...................................................................................................... 51 3.5 Robustness Analysis ................................................................................................. 56 3.6 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 59 3.7 Appendix .................................................................................................................. 60 4 Economic Growth and Country Size in the European Union .................................... 62 4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 63 4.2 Overview of Main Theoretical Arguments ............................................................... 69 4.2.1 Welfare Implications of Country Size ........................................................... 69 4.2.2 Impact of European Integration on Small Countries ..................................... 70 4.3 The Existence of Economic Convergence in the European Union ........................... 75 4.3.1 Concepts of Economic Convergence ............................................................. 75 4.3.2 Testing for β-convergence ............................................................................. 76 4.3.2.1 The Case of Unconditional Convergence ........................................ 76 4.3.2.2 The Case of Conditional Convergence ............................................ 78 4.3.3 Testing for σ-convergence ............................................................................. 82 4.4 The Effects of Population Size in the European Union ............................................ 83 4.4.1 Main Results .................................................................................................. 83 4.4.2 Sensitivity Analysis ....................................................................................... 87 4.4.3 Further Results ............................................................................................... 89 4.5 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 92 4.6 Appendix .................................................................................................................. 94 5 Concluding Remarks ...................................................................................................... 96 References .......................................................................................................................... 102 List of Figures Figure 1.1 Infringement Proceedings against EU Member States .......................................... 3 Figure 1.2 Intra-EU-15 Trade in Goods .................................................................................. 4 Figure 1.3 Average Levels of Business Cycle Symmetry (1995–2012) ................................. 5 Figure 2.1 European Economic Integration for Certain Country Groups ............................. 25 Figure 2.2 Dendrogram for 2010 .......................................................................................... 28 Figure 2.3 Dendrogram for 1999 .......................................................................................... 29 Figure 2.4 Scree Test of Principal
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