Is there a shortfall in demand or a shortfall in supply in the euro zone?
This question is actually complicated: The euro zone has excess savings over investment and low core inflation, which normally corresponds to a situation of a shortfall in demand; But the euro zone has major hiring difficulties, and therefore significant structural unemployment and shows a decline in its industrial production capacity and low productivity gains. All this normally corresponds to a situation of shortfall in supply. To reconcile these two approaches, we can emphasise the following mechanism: demand has fallen markedly, and this decline in demand has triggered a decline in supply (loss of investment and human capital). In the short term , demand will therefore have to be stimulated; but supply will also have to be stimulated to restore long-term growth.