The process by which southern Europe became uncompetitive in the first place was driven by market price signals – by the incentives those signals created for entrepreneurs, and by how entrepreneurs’ individually rational responses played out in macroeconomic terms. Northern Europeans with money to invest were willing to lend on extraordinarily easy terms to those in the south who wanted to spend, and ample pre-2007 spending made employers there willing to raise wages rapidly.
南欧失去竞争力的过程首先由市场价格信号驱动——这些信号对企业家构成激励，而企业家个人的理性选择又反过来影响到宏观经济。北欧掌握大笔资金的投资人过去愿意以极优惠的条件借钱给南欧的借款者，而2007年前火热的消费状况又导致南欧国家雇主愿意迅速提高工资。