It’s impossible to attribute any growth (or recession) to one cause alone. Especially when talking about such a volatile economic period such as 2001.
Pretty much none. Most Italians were glad to get rid of the silly zeros. (Except for the conmen making a living from confused tourists.)
I thought that resurrecting this thread might be interesting. Italy has a lot of debt to roll over by this summer-could this be the straw that breaks the camel’s back?
At any rate, it should be an interesting year.
There was some scepticism in this thread, some of it adressing the real problem with the Euro’s construction (lack of common fiscal governance), but I’d like to cite your seven-year old post as an example of the scaremongering and belittling that seems to be going on, often by American conservatives:
Unemployment was and still is shrinking in Germany, and the crisis of 2008 was better handled in Germany than in most economies. The Euro has been very helpful for our industry, especially because its value has not risen as much as the Mark would have in the same time, which would have crippled our exports, similarly to the development of the Swiss Franc.
An artificially low exchange rate is no doubt helpful for German exporters. But helpful for other countries, for whom the rate is too high? I’m not so sure.
Will Greece drop the Euro and revert to the drachma?
It looks like this is real possibility.
My question: if Greece does this, can they be forced to pay back their euro-denominated bonds with euros?
If they take drachmas, the problem is solved-just inflate the drachma and wipe out the debt!
Nitpick: “euro.” Lower-case “e.”
The obvious answer is no - nobody can force them. They can simply default - just like Argentina has in the past (for example, not picking on Argentina particularly). Default however creates a whole set of new problems.
The real problem for Greece may be companies - who will have contracts and liabilities in a mixture of ‘domestic’ and ‘foreign’ euros. At a pinch the Greek Government (an oxymoron at the moment I know) can make laws on what happens to domestic contracts and debts and deposits but foreign debt could wipe out a whole lot of Greek companies who end up with Drachma income and euro liabilities). Leading to even more unemployment, economic upheaval etc.
I am reviving this thread…because it looks like the Euro is under new pressure. The question is: will Germany support a big monetary expansion (so as to bail out Spain, Greece, Italy, etc.?).
Or are plans being made to dump the euro?
I guess we’ll hear from Rune that Denmark is not nearly so eager to join the Eurozone now.