* * * In the two decades before the financial crisis, trade growth was a major contributor to higher living standards worldwide, with world imports growing at roughly twice the rate of output. The integration of many emerging economies into global trade, notably through participation in global value chains, boosted incomes and lifted millions of people out of poverty.
Since the crisis, however, trade has provided noticeably less support to economic growth. Trade growth has barely kept pace with output growth, and has even lagged behind it in a number of years. As a result, the current economic expansion in the euro area has been driven largely by domestic demand, supported by substantial monetary policy accommodation.