Extrapolating Europe’s modest growth from 1980 onwards, my calculations show that output in the eurozone today is more than 15% below where it would have been had the 2008 financial crisis not occurred, implying a loss of some $1.6 trillion this year alone, and a cumulative loss of more than $6.5 trillion. Even more disturbing, the gap is widening, not closing (as one would expect following a downturn, when growth is typically faster than normal as the economy makes up lost ground).
从1980年以来欧洲温和增长出发，我测算今天的欧元区产出比2008年不发生金融危机的情形要低15%以上，这意味着光是在今年，损失就高达1.6万亿美元，累计损失则超过6.5万亿美元。更令人担忧的是，这一缺口还在扩大而不是缩小（按理说缺口应该减小，因为随着经济收复失地，增长通常要快于常态）。