Similarly, and as I argued recently, hysteresis effects – should they materialise and the jury is still out on this – have the unfortunate consequence of locking in crisis-related income losses and may result in higher rather than lower inflationary pressures.4This is not to say that they are not a 7 / 15  BIS central bankers' speeches  source of concern, but the answer should be a structural, not a monetary one.
Yet, despite this, I would argue that a lack of real convergence does matter for our union and the conduct of monetary policy, for three main reasons. First, and most importantly, the lack of real convergence matters greatly for people in lowerincome countries. Without credible prospects of catching up with higher-income countries, some may question the benefits of membership of the currency union.