This change started already before the single currency, but the euro has brought further discipline and helped to sustain the momentum. I will list a few such structural factors. First, wage setting. With no exchange rate policy available to correct mistakes, wage setting must be done responsibly. By and large, and notwithstanding some slippages, this has been the case.
In recent years, state bank regulators have worked well together and with their federal counterparts in accommodating interstate banking and minimizing oversight costs to both the supervisors and to state-chartered institutions. Now, Gramm-Leach-Bliley has introduced nonbank activities and functional regulators into the mix.