le European currency (the euro). Although the advent of the euro will not be fully felt at the consumer level until 2002, it has already had an impact on the New Economy. The implications of the euro are going to be immense, not only in Europe, but throughout the world. The euro is being implemented at the same time as the Internet is undergoing significant adoption throughout the world, and the two events will inevitably affect each other ("India," 2000, p. BSLN13984482).
Expansion of the New Economy in Europe will be facilitated by a common currency that measures the cost of goods regardless of the country in which transactions occur. The euro will thus help soften the national barriers, and the New Economy will extend the reach of buyers and sellers. Both the euro and the New Economy will facilitate transactions and reduce costs. Consequently, e commerce will become a competitive necessity in Europe as well as the United States.
In 2002, when the euro reaches the general population, consumers as well as businesses are likely to regard buying and selling on the Internet as acceptable as American residents do. In fact, the combination of the euro and the Internet could release pent-up demand by consumers for goods from other nations. Western Europeans are already adept at using the Web and buying over the Web. With a base of more than 22 million World Wide Web users at the end of 1998, e-commerce revenues were nearly US$3 billion, which is more than triple the amount in 1997. The significance of 11 nations adopting a single currency cannot be overemphasized. Combined, the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) resembles the United States in population and size of GDP. According to some analysts, the populations of the United States and the 11 nations adopting the euro are 286 million and 292 million, respectively, while the GDPs in 1997 were US$8.11 trillion and US$6.26 trillion, respectively (Rupley, 1999, p. 30).
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