The Failure of the Euro
The Little Currency That Couldn’t
那無能的小貨幣
By Martin Feldstein
January/February 2012
Translation by Autumnson Blog
The euro should now be recognized as an experiment that failed. This failure, which has come after just over a dozen years since the euro was introduced, in 1999, was not an accident or the result of bureaucratic mismanagement but rather the inevitable consequence of imposing a single currency on a very heterogeneous group of countries. The adverse economic consequences of the euro include the sovereign debt crises in several European countries, the fragile condition of major European banks, high levels of unemployment across the eurozone, and the large trade deficits that now plague most eurozone countries.
歐元現在應該被認許為一個失敗的實驗，這失敗出現，剛在歐元於1999年推出超過十二年之後，並不是一宗意外或是官僚管理不善的結果，而是在一個成份非常不同的國家組織實施單一貨幣的難以避免後果。對歐元不利的經濟後果，包括在幾個歐洲國家的主權債務危機，脆弱的主要歐洲銀行情况，整個歐元區的高失業水平，和現在困擾大多數歐元區國家的巨額貿易赤字。
The political goal of creating a harmonious Europe has also failed. France and Germany have dictated painful austerity measures in Greece and Italy as a condition of their financial help, and Paris and Berlin have clashed over the role of the European Central Bank (ECB) and over how the burden of financial assistance will be shared.
創造一個和諧歐洲的政治目標亦失敗了，法國和德國已經下令在希臘和意大利的痛苦緊縮措施，作為他們經濟上幫助的條件，而巴黎和柏林已在歐洲央行（ECB）的角色上，和在如何分配財政援助的負擔上萌生衝突。
The initial impetus that led to the European Monetary Union and the euro was political, not economic. European politicians reasoned that the use of a common currency would instill in their publics a greater sense of belonging to a European community and that the shift of responsibility for monetary policy from national capitals to a single central bank in Frankfurt would signal a shift of political power.
The primary political motive for increased European integration was, and may still be, to enhance Europe's role in world affairs. In 1956, just after the United States forced France and the United Kingdom to withdraw their forces from the Suez Canal, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer told a French politician that individual European states would never be leading global powers, but "there remains to them only one way of playing a decisive role in the world; that is to unite to make Europe. . . . Europe will be your revenge." One year later, the Treaty of Rome launched the Common Market.
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http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136752/martin-feldstein/the-failure-of-the-euro
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