Your rescue plan for the euro involves four quick steps: building a firewall around solvent eurozone countries; shoring up eurozone’s banks against sovereign default; shifting the eurozone’s macroeconomic policy from austerity to growth; and redesigning the entire system to prevent future crises (“How to Save the Euro,” September 17, 2011). If these four steps are not taken immediately, you argue, the euro will fall apart. As you point out, the cost of the break-up would be substantial. The core countries could suffer a drop in output of about a quarter in the first year, while the drop in the peripheral countries could be about a half. This would threaten the common market itself. In time it would threaten the European Union, as well. However, you do not address the cost of doing little or nothing, which is the Union’s ongoing problem. The likelihood that the Union will undertake your rescue plan is close to zero. Similarly, the likelihood that a quick break-up will be attempted soon by, say, Germany is also quite low. The most likely outcome is the continuation of dilly-dallying. And the associated break-up costs might well exceed your estimate, albeit over a much longer period of time.