The United States has no barriers to interstate investment, and the states share a common currency, culture, language, and legal system, yet studies have shown that individual investors and even professional money managers have a slight preference for investments in their own communities and states. Trust, so crucial an aspect of investing, is most likely to be fostered by the familiarity of local communities.
This has been a major step forward and will ensure that in the future, the euro area will be better prepared to respond to such crises. In historic perspective, five years are a blink of an eye. In less than five years, the euro area has taken a remarkable leap forward that has kept us together.