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Bulgaria to join euro area on 1 January 2026

(www.ecb.europa.eu)
256 points toomuchtodo | 1 comments | 09 Jul 25 00:44 UTC | HN request time: 0.216s | source
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jmyeet ◴[09 Jul 25 01:21 UTC] No.44505485[source]▶
This will likely come with a one-time significant increase in inflation, at least based on other European countries.

When Germany converted to the Euro, the conversion rate was (IIRC) about ~2 DM to the Euro but from what I recall, a lot of everyday things went from costing 7 DM to 7 euro, effectively doubling in price. IIRC France was similar (ie ~6.5 francs to the Euro but 10 Francs went to 3 euro, etc).

I've tried searching for any studies on this to see if the effect was measured and, if so, whether it held with later countries joining the euro.

I'm a little surprised that the euro has been this stable for this long (going on 30 years). Finland debated leaving. IT's debated if there's even a legal mechanism to leave. We still have the problem that the ECB sets eurozone monetary policy with Germany and Greece being vastly different economies.

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petesergeant ◴[09 Jul 25 02:12 UTC] No.44505755[source]▶
> I've tried searching for any studies ... but from what I recall

I mean if you've tried to find evidence and can't, this feels a lot like you're simply misremembering?

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arlort ◴[09 Jul 25 04:15 UTC] No.44506296[source]▶
It's something that is pretty much taken as gospel in many countries that that happened

I've only checked the data for Italy but real inflation stayed pretty much constant while perceived inflation absolutely blew out of proportion.

So essentially people noticed some minority of shops raising their prices talking advantage of the little confusion around the exchange rate and never shut up about it since

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1. oaiey ◴[09 Jul 25 05:10 UTC] No.44506501[source]▶
Same in Germany. I remember the times, was a poor student. Restaurants took the opportunity to change prices, which everyone felt but did not influence the inflation. And that price hikes was overdue (at least that was the statements back then ... Which I found rationale)