Maybe it was Germany’s fault.
The same currency that made German exports more competitive also made the exports of other European countries less competitive. Their shares of world trade declined over that same decade — in France’s case, by a spectacular 23 percent.
But the less competitive countries did get something out of the euro: Lower interest rates. The currency arrangement that enabled Germany to sell more enabled Greece, Italy, Spain, and France to borrow more.
Germany got the jobs. Greece and the others got the debts.
