What are the advantages and disadvantages of the euro system? Explain.

The euro system has created a large zone within Europe in which various countries all share the same currency.  This single currency system has one major advantage, as well as one major disadvantage.
The major advantage of having a single currency is that it makes trade between countries much easier.  It does this in a number of ways.  Companies that want to trade within the euro zone do not have to exchange currency in order to do so.  This reduces the cost of buying and selling across national borders.  People and companies who want to shop can do so much more easily because they know what the prices offered by suppliers in various countries mean.  Imagine if you are a car manufacturer and you want to compare the price of parts made by suppliers in five different countries.  This requires you to calculate exchange rates, which takes time and therefore costs more money.  With a single currency, you do not have to do this.  In addition, with a single currency, this hypothetical auto maker would not have to worry about changes in the exchange rate.  Since their country and the suppliers’ countries all have the same currency, they know that changes in exchange rates will not change their costs.  In all of these ways, and more, the existence of the euro makes it easier for people and companies in the euro zone to trade with one another, even if they are in different countries.
The major disadvantage of the single currency has to do with the economies of specific countries.  The problem is that you have many countries with very different economies all tied to the same currency.  This makes it impossible for different countries to change their monetary policies to adjust for the needs of their economies.  For example, if Greece is in a recession but other euro zone countries are not, Greece cannot simply implement a looser monetary policy because it does not have its own currency.  Similarly, countries cannot devalue their currency when they are part of the euro zone. This was another problem for Greece in its recent economic crisis.  If it had had its own currency, it could have allowed it to devalue, which would have helped the Greek economy significantly.  When countries with different economies are linked together in a single currency, they can be harmed because they all have to have the same monetary policies and currency values even though it might be better for separate countries to have separate policies.
Thus, the euro system is good for business in general because it makes it cheaper and easier to do business between countries.  However, the euro system’s major disadvantage is that it does not allow different countries to have different policies that fit their respective economies.