问答题 (1) If you believe the Macroeconomists, Europe's new common currency will bring either economic chaos or the dawn of a new era of growth, restructuring, and prosperity. But for those who will be dealing with the euro on a daily basis, the new currency leads to a much more pragmatic dilemma: just how to put a price on everything from butter to Big Macs. There's little doubt that consumer demand will lead to some pricing changes, especially after euro notes and coins are issued in 2002. Consider Magnum ice cream bars, which Unilever sells across Europe. In France they cost about $2.50, while in the Netherlands they cost $1 Priced in guilders and francs, the difference isn't so noticeable. (2) But when priced in euros beginning next year, French ice cream lovers will soon figure out that they're paying 2.5 times what the Dutch are paying. The same is true for a vast number of products. "Currently we have different prices in different countries, which isn't so visible with different currencies," says Gunther Moissl of German mail order house Quelle Schickendanz. "The moment you price in euros, you can see it " Of course, nobody is going to drive across borders just to buy cheaper ice cream. But they already do for big-ticket items such as cars. (3) Moreover, says Jan Haars, Unilever treasurer: "The attitude of the consumer toward your product may change if he feels ice cream is twice as expensive at home as it is somewhere else." Thus, most everybody thinks the euro will force prices to converge. Volkswagen, which has been slapped with fines by the European Commission for trying to keep Germans from buying its cars at cheaper prices in Italy, says it has already narrowed price diffentials to 105. Wolfgang Hartung, head of the Euro project at Daimler-Benz, warns that anyone who thinks they can maintain vastly different prices in the era of the euro is engaged in wishful thinking. "People are too well-informed,' says Hartung. Big price differences for the same product have been a fact Of life for years in Europe. (4) Manufacturers justify this by citing differences in taxes, distribution and labor costs, foreign-exchange risk, even local taste. For example, Quelle says it charges German women more for bathing suits than Spanish women because Germans demand higher quality. “In Germany, the weight of the fabric must be higher,' says Moissl, Quelle’s controller.”The Spanish accept poorer quality." Moissl’s not too concerned about maintaining price differentials for bathing suits—local tastes in fashion, for instance, can justify ongoing price differentials—but the pricing of such things as CD players is more problematic. The product doesn't differ much and can easily be shipped across borders. (5) Quelle says it is thinking about raising prices in less expensive countries to prevent middleman from buying, say, in Spain and then selling in Germany.