"The euro has basically achieved its goal of interconnecting the economies of euro zone countries, which has increased trade and greased the wheels of commerce," Dawson said. "Wen can now speak of one, 330-million-citizen, 4 trillion euro [$5.5 trillion] economy when we speak of the euro zone."

Further, public debt ceilings forced euro zone public officials to exercising much-needed fiscal discipline, Dawson said, which cut the growth in government spending. A strong anti-inflation stance by the European Central Bank - - a policy since eased, due to the global recession - - has also benefited euro zone residents by keeping inflation in check, he added.

The euro's biggest drawback? The ECB can not tailor monetary policy to meet the needs of individual euro zone nations, Dawson said. "But GDP growth from increased commerce easily exceeds any decrease in economic growth due to being a member of a one-size-fits all monetary union," he added.

And Europe is not in danger of losing its quality of life, due to the euro, in Dawson's interpretation. "The average worker in France still has five weeks of paid vacation per year, Dawson said. "In the United States it's 13 days, so fears of an 'Americanization of Europe' due to the euro are exaggerated."

Economic Analysis: Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are well on their way to meeting fiscal and related requirements to join the euro zone. What's more, as Europe's economy starts to recover, look for no-euro Sweden to revisit the issue early in the next decade. Not likely: a United Kingdom decision to join the euro zone.