Financial firms cluster in London because they derive external economies of scale.

ECONOMIST: London as a financial centre

Performance in major industrialized economies will help determine the volume of external private financing to Crisis economies, an important determinant of the latter's growth.

CNN: REFORM IS CRUCIAL

They stem largely from external blows under which weaker economies would have buckled.

ECONOMIST: Aid for Argentina

As well as being burdened by unsustainable levels of external debt, all five economies share the misery of trying to regain lost competitive ground through internal devaluation, in which domestic costs are ground down year after year.

ECONOMIST: The Merkel memorandum

The priority for the new programme of action is to build strong economies that can withstand external shocks.

UN: Secretary-General

But the real heart of the optimal currency idea is will the economies react asymmetrically to an external economic shock?

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Economic restructuring is essential if these economies are to cope better with external shocks in the future.

ECONOMIST: Ready to party?

These economies are therefore more resistant to external shocks than is generally thought.

ECONOMIST: Global growth is looking less lopsided than for many years

With public and private external debts at record highs, many advanced economies are increasingly looking inward for public debt placements.

BBC: The beginnings of 'financial repression'?