We are today – thanks to the work of Ludwig Erhard – confronted with exciting challenges and a unique historical development. The creation of the euro area is an exceptional endeavour, now comprising 13 countries, with the entry of Slovenia, and 318 million people.
These large differences between countries in the extent of the price increases are interesting. It is particularly notable that the price increases in the US – 75% in this period or 7% annually – were rather modest from an international perspective. Figure 2 shows credit expansion in the same economies, using data from the IMF.