This last week I was lucky enough to take a class trip to Prague with several other students for my Internationalization of Higher Education class. The city was breathtakingly beautiful, the people were kind, and my complete lack of Czech language skills never proved to great of a hurdle. I can now confidently recommend the city as a destination to anyone exploring central Europe.
Not only was visiting the city an amazing culture and historical experience, but it got me thinking a lot about international economics in Europe. Having spent so much time in Germany, I am certainly aware of certain financial issues with other Eurozone nations, but this was the first time I had visited a country that was not also on the Euro since leaving the United States. The Czech Republic, as you may or may not know, operates on the Czech koruna, or Czech crown. This sparked my interest, as one would think a growing, relatively stable, economy such as the Czech Republic has would be welcome into the Eurozone. As it happens, they were planning on adopting the euro in 2010, but these plans were cancelled in 2005. The crown is currently worth about 28-1 compared to the euro, and 24-1 compared to the dollar, creating a favorable exchange for my visit there. This does have an impact on the Czech economy though. Despite hopes that the different currency would decrease the negative impact of the Eurozone crisis, the heavy trade ties means the Czech Republic has felt it just as much. The crown was the worst performing currency in early 2015, mostly due to poor exports and the need for the central bank to create inflation.
It has been interesting learning about the compassion of economies in Europe both in and out of the Eurozone, and for that I am glad I took a trip to Prague.
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