These low rates have stimulated record amounts of new home construction, which has not only permitted a growing number of Americans the opportunity for home ownership but has played a vital role in maintaining aggregate demand throughout the recession and recovery - not only in the construction industry but in ancillary industries such as home furnishings.
When it comes to correcting intra-euro area macroeconomic imbalances, the bulk of structural adjustments has to be undertaken by the deficit countries themselves as it was there that domestic developments became unsustainable in the years prior to the crisis.