Why EMU is Irrelevant for the German Economy

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Abstract
It is ironic that Germany's next great change in monetary regime comes just after the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the currency reform, which gave the world the deutsche mark. Discussions of European monetary unification and the replacement of the DM with the euro take on a special meaning in this context. Even though the euro's literal arrival has now come and gone, many Germans still discuss the matter with some urgency. Roughly speaking, there are two camps: those who see the euro as the advent of a newly open, large, and efficient regime which will lead to improvements in European and in particular German economic competitiveness; and those who see the euro as a weakening of the commitment to price stability upon which the German Wirschaftswunder was based. An outside perspective from an American monetary economist, albeit one versed in German monetary policy is that EMU is unlikely to cause directly any meaningful change either for the better in Standort Deutschland or for the worse in German price stability. In short, EMU is irrelevant for the German Economy.

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