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Transaction Costs in the Euro Area

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My U.S. cell phone plan works the same-same cost-throughout the 50 states. In the E.U., my German cell phone is cheap to use in Germany, but charges are much higher elsewhere. So I had to buy a Dutch cell phone to use in Holland-even though both are TMobile phones!
I can charge purchases on my German bank card in euros throughout the euro area; but except for a few locations in Spain, Portugal and the U.K., if I take money from an ATM outside Germany, Deutsche Bank charges me $6. So I set up an ING account in Holland, with no charge at ATMs within the country.
Clearly, the euro has reduced transactions costs; but even the euro-area has a long way to go to approximate America’s low monetary and time transaction costs.


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