EU Together or Apart: Long Italy, Short Germany

By Greenwood Investors

Before the Eurozone currency was formed, Germany was nicknamed the “sick man of Europe.” It had persistently high unemployment as it was a manufacturing-dominated economy with a continuously strong Deutsche Mark. Not a great scenario when the wages of the Germany employees were already the highest in the world.

Exhibit 1: Global Autoworker’s Base Wages

Since then, Germany has been the model example of “reform,” and economic progress. Yet this progress has almost entirely been achieved at the expense of peripheral countries that were locked into a common currency with its high-cost, low inflation neighbor.

[drizzle]

Italian unemployment has been persistently high since the formation of the Eurozone. Inflation in Italy versus northern Europe, particularly Germany, had...