While he had no formal model or elaborate regression results to put forward in his defence, his instincts seem to have told him that any attempt to improve the economy’s performance by targeting a higher inflation rate was misguided and could only end in difficulty: There are those who sometimes set out the false alternatives of either full employment with inflation, or stable prices with a high level of unemployment.
When its lights came on for the first time in 2001, the euro area comprised only 12 member states; the number has now risen to a total of 19. The average forex trading volume that changed hands every day between traders round the world amounted to some € billion in 2001; it now stands at € trillion according to the latest available figures.