> Doug, today the dollar moved down against the euro and oil in dollars
> went up more or less in synch.
Out of curiosity, are the stimulus effects of a stronger currency -- cheaper oil, cheaper raw material inputs of all kinds -- always outweighed by the dampening effects of higher relative prices of one's exports?
I mean, in America we were pretty stimulated in the 90s by having a strong currency (and the CA deficit and financial surplus that went with it). And I thought I read somewhere that now that Europe is a single currency zone, its total exports are around the same as ours as a percentage of GDP (around 10%) -- that the much historically much higher figures for Germany, Italy etc. were largely accounted for by the fact that they exported to each other.
So is it theoretically possible that higher Euro wouldn't have to be a terrible thing for the Eurozone economy?
Michael