The US Federal Reserve, in particular, made it clear that it wanted to err on the side of ease, since even a low probability of inflation falling ‘too far’ was something to be resisted, and openly discussed measures that could be employed were interest rates to reach the zero lower bound.
According to Eichengreen, the factors reducing the desirability of a monetary union in Europe included the historical variability of real exchange rates among European nations, the low degree of labor mobility between countries, and a lower correlation of underlying shocks among European countries than among regions of the United States.3 Other critics of monetary unification, such as Martin Feldstein, have stressed the limited extent of fiscal transfers within the European Union.