The latest and greatest step towards integration in Europe has been entry into Stage Three of economic and monetary union. The euro-area countries have entered into a community of solidarity without any “exit.” There is no precedent for this unique project.
Although the left-hand chart of slide 4shows that the euro area did not converge to growth rates much lower than those we had seen prior to the crisis – a process that some academics have coined “superhysteresis” – it also shows that the distribution of growth rates is pointier with flatter right-hand tails when compared with its pre5 / 15  BIS central bankers' speeches  crisis pattern.