DP6301 International Financial Remoteness and Macroeconomic Volatility

Author(s): Andrew K Rose , Mark Spiegel

Publication Date: May 2007

Keyword(s): business cycle , capital , cross-section , data , distance , empirical , proximity

JEL(s): E32 , F32

Programme Areas: International Macroeconomics

Link to this Page: www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP6301.asp

This paper shows that proximity to major international financial centers seems to reduce business cycle volatility. In particular, we show that countries that are further from major locations of international financial activity systematically experience more volatile growth rates in both output and consumption, even after accounting for domestic financial depth, political institutions, and other controls. Our results are relatively robust in the sense that more financially remote countries are more volatile, though the results are not always statistically significant. The comparative strength of this finding is in contrast to the more ambiguous evidence found in the literature.