Patrick Artus, the chief economist at Natixis, highlighted a closely-guarded European secret the other day. The Eurozone isn’t really an industrialized economy, and the problem is getting worse each year. In a Natixis report, published earlier in September, Artus describes two of the monetary block’s major problems: the Eurozone is in a period of de-industrialization, and industry is concentrating on a handful of places.
Artus’ first point—that the Eurozone is in a period of de-industrialization—is easy enough to demonstrate, and it should be expected by investors. What may be less expected is the fact that most of the de-industrialization happened after the financial crisis.

