TY - JOUR
T1 - The Importance of Borders for Swiss Banks. Some Lessons from Economic history
AU - Berbenni, Enrico
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The economic consequences of a political frontier are many and not all have been
adequately explored. For a long time the political and administrative boundaries
have, in fact, been considered one of the main sources of costs related to trade.
Instead,
the study of banking systems in border regions has probably received less
attention so far, maybe due to the fragmented nature of available data, which makes
it difficult to assess the border effect on the credit framework of these geographic
areas. These few notes are intended to provide some insight into this topic, suggesting
the impossibility of formulating a general theory on the banking systems
along the frontier, which are, instead, more affected by the several variables that
contribute to differentiate the individual border regions from each other. In this
perspective, the Swiss case is particularly significant in that it is in conflict with the
traditional thesis, which argues that frontier regions are sites of penalisation. By
comparing three different border areas – Geneva, Basel and especially Ticino, due
to its gravitating towards an external economic pole, the Milanese one – the paper
highlights the fragility inherent in the economies along the boundaries, but also
the strong potential provided by deeper cross-border integration, as historical experience
clearly demonstrates, and as the current framework seems to make more
and more necessary.
AB - The economic consequences of a political frontier are many and not all have been
adequately explored. For a long time the political and administrative boundaries
have, in fact, been considered one of the main sources of costs related to trade.
Instead,
the study of banking systems in border regions has probably received less
attention so far, maybe due to the fragmented nature of available data, which makes
it difficult to assess the border effect on the credit framework of these geographic
areas. These few notes are intended to provide some insight into this topic, suggesting
the impossibility of formulating a general theory on the banking systems
along the frontier, which are, instead, more affected by the several variables that
contribute to differentiate the individual border regions from each other. In this
perspective, the Swiss case is particularly significant in that it is in conflict with the
traditional thesis, which argues that frontier regions are sites of penalisation. By
comparing three different border areas – Geneva, Basel and especially Ticino, due
to its gravitating towards an external economic pole, the Milanese one – the paper
highlights the fragility inherent in the economies along the boundaries, but also
the strong potential provided by deeper cross-border integration, as historical experience
clearly demonstrates, and as the current framework seems to make more
and more necessary.
KW - Swiss banks
KW - Swiss banks
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/95249
M3 - Article
SN - 0036-7834
SP - 212
EP - 229
JO - Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte. Revue suisse d'histoire. Rivista storica svizzera
JF - Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte. Revue suisse d'histoire. Rivista storica svizzera
ER -