When the euro was introduced, regulators allowed banks to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds without setting aside any equity capital, and the ECB discounted all eurozone government bonds on equal terms. Commercial banks found it advantageous to accumulate weaker countries’ bonds to earn a few extra basis points, which caused interest rates to converge across the eurozone.
引入欧元后，监管者允许银行买入不限量的政府债券，而不需要为此拔备任何权益资本，欧洲央行给予所有欧元区政府债券完全相同的贴现条件。商业银行发现，囤积疲软国债券以赚取额外几个基点是有利可图的，这导致了整个欧元区利率的趋同。在与重新统一所带来的负担作斗争的过程中，德国采取了结构性改革，提高了竞争力。其他国家享受着廉价信用带来的房地产和消费繁荣，这让它们失去了竞争力。