2026-05-23
The euro priced in gold and Bitcoin
Why we track the euro against scarce assets, and what a rising gold or Bitcoin price really says about the currency.
#explainer
20 articles
2026-05-23
Net migration and population change
Why most EU population change now comes from migration rather than births, and how the crude rates are measured.
2026-05-23
Government spending (total expenditure)
What total general government expenditure as a share of GDP measures, and how to read it.
2026-05-23
Government spending by function: health, education, defence, social protection
How the COFOG breakdown splits public spending into what governments actually spend it on.
2026-05-23
Government revenue
Total general government revenue as a share of GDP — essentially the overall tax-and-contributions take.
2026-05-23
Deficit and surplus (net lending/borrowing)
The gap between what a government raises and what it spends in a year, and the 3%-of-GDP Maastricht limit.
2026-05-23
Government debt
Gross general government debt — the accumulated stock of borrowing — shown both as a share of GDP and in euros, with the 60% limit.
2026-05-23
GDP and real growth
The size of the economy in euros, and how fast it is actually growing once inflation is removed.
2026-05-23
GDP per capita
Economic output divided by population — the simplest single gauge of average prosperity.
2026-05-23
Unemployment rate
The share of people who want work and cannot find it — the headline gauge of labour-market health.
2026-05-23
Population
Total population on 1 January — the denominator behind per-capita figures and a slow-moving driver of everything else.
2026-05-23
Inflation (HICP)
The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices — the EU's standard measure of how fast the cost of living is rising.
2026-05-23
Core inflation
Inflation with volatile food and energy stripped out, used to read the underlying price trend.
2026-05-23
ECB policy interest rates
The three rates the European Central Bank sets to steer the cost of money across the eurozone.
2026-05-23
The Eurosystem balance sheet
The total assets held by the ECB and national central banks — a direct read on how much money the central bank has created.
2026-05-23
Money supply (M1, M2, M3)
How much money exists in the eurozone, from cash and current accounts up to the broad measure the ECB tracks.
2026-05-23
Exchange rates (EUR/USD, EUR/GBP)
What one euro buys in dollars and pounds — the external value of the currency.
2026-05-23
Government bond yields (10-year)
The interest rate governments pay to borrow for ten years — and what the spread between countries reveals.
2026-05-23
Housing cost burden
The share of people spending more than 40% of their income on housing — a direct measure of affordability stress.
2026-05-23
IMF forecasts (World Economic Outlook)
Forward-looking projections for growth, inflation, deficits and debt, on a consistent cross-country basis.