THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

Bottom line: all signs are that the introduction of the euro in such
circumstances amounts to European governments painting
themselves into a corner of untenably high unemployment levels
without any of the traditional tools to do something about it.
Social and political consequences
Even before the introduction of the euro the socio-political
temperature in many European countries was uncomfortably high. If
the job situation does act miraculously improve, one should expect
the tensions to rise further, to the benefit of only the more extremist
and nationalist political parties.
It is also to be expected that the European Union will be blamed for
the growing unemployment situation - and if the European Central
Bank feels obliged to follow the policies described above, the blame
will at least partially be valid.
What is at stake ranges from an escalation of social unrest and
political extremism to a loss of legitimacy of the European project.
The need for a permanent solution for regional differences
Some people have argued on a theoretical basis that with the
introduction of the single European currency business conditions and
specifically the business cycle - will slowly become uniform across
Europe. Therefore, it is argued, the negative employment effect of the
introduction of the euro would be only temporary.
However, studies by the US Federal Reserve based on actual data
show the opposite to be true. They found that sub-national
economies in the USA still behave at different speeds in reaction to
similar impetus, after centuries of having a single currency. They also
show why different European regions will continue for ever to have