Study: How Germany Benefits from the Euro in Economic Terms

Since the advent of the European sovereign debt crisis German citizens have voiced mounting criticism of the European Monetary Union and of the euro. However, German economic growth and indeed the German labour market both benefit to a considerable extent from the euro: Without the euro, that is, if Germany had a separate currency, the annual increase in real gross domestic product would be about 0.5 percentage points lower. If one adds up the advantages of eurozone membership between 2013 and 2025 in terms of greater growth, the benefits as far as Germany is concerned amount to almost €1.2 trillion. Even if Germany had to write off a large percentage of the loans that it has made available to the heavily indebted states of southern Europe as part of the various euro rescue measures, the economic advantages of its membership of the monetary union would continue to predominate. Reverting to the “deutschmark” would thus be disadvantageous even in purely economic terms.

Downloads: How Germany benefits from the Euro

Policy Brief: How Germany benefits from the Euro (EN)