The optimistic case was predicated on the notion that institutions and policies, where
they had fallen short, would be upgraded in response to the more intense competition for
resources brought about by the euro. Labour and product market reform there was in the
1990s and after the turn of the century, but it occurred throughout the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development; there is little evidence of faster progress in the
eurozone (Mayes and Viren, 2009)