And yet, while trends among European economies have varied, private investment was, overall, the hardest-hit component of GDP during the crisis, plunging by more than €350 billion – ten times greater than the fall in private consumption and four times more than the decline in real GDP – between 2007 and 2011. The magnitude of the private-investment downturn was, in fact, unprecedented – and lies at the heart of Europe’s economic malaise.
此外，尽管欧洲各经济体的趋势各不相同，但总的来说私人投资是危机期间受创最重的GDP要素，2007—2011年间下降了超过3500亿欧元——比私人消费降幅大十倍，比真实GDP降幅大四倍。事实上，私人投资的如此降幅可谓前所未见，也是欧洲经济不安的核心问题。