That question is all the more important, because the Netherlands and Austria, two of Germany’s Northern European eurozone neighbors, continue to run current-account surpluses, while the Southern European crisis countries have reversed their previously large deficits, as austerity has squeezed domestic demand and made room for an increase in exports. As a result, the eurozone as a whole will produce a surplus close to $260 billion this year, which represents a new global imbalance that is more directly comparable to China’s in the past decade.