Why did the European Central Bank hold off on cutting interest rates today in the face of signs that the euro area is on the verge of deflation? One possibility: The German economy is doing much better than last year and may be 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent bigger than reported in the official statistics. (This would be in addition to the impact of the European Union's planned changes in GDP accounting standards, which will take place this summer.) The possibility was raised by Carsten-Patrick Meier at Kiel Economics Research & Forecasting GmbH & Co. and initially reported by Henrik Muller in Der Spiegel. The article ... (full story)