In discussing the historic dimension of the introduction of the euro today, we are not exactly walking a well-trodden path. However, as I will make plain today, that introduction is a historic event. II The three large currency areas in the world — the United States, Japan and the euro area — together account for almost one-half of world output.
Those three entities share a lot of similarities, but they are strikingly different in some respects. In terms of population size, the United States and the euro area are quite similar, around 300 million people, while Japan is a little less than half that size.