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"Chasing the Leader"
Feb. 9th, 2003 01:23 amFrom The Economist:
Chasing the leader
Feb 6th 2003
From The Economist print edition
Are Europeans really so much worse off than Americans?
AMERICA has been the world's economic leader for over a century. Economic theory suggests that western Europe should be catching up. Yet average GDP per head in the European Union, measured at purchasing-power parity, is only three-quarters of that in the United States. A popular explanation is that European firms are less productive because they are hampered by labour- and product-market regulation. But European productivity, measured by output per hour worked, has in fact almost caught up with America's. If Europeans are so productive, though, why are they apparently so much poorer than Americans?
( Maybe they aren't. )
* “Two Centuries of Economic Growth: Europe Chasing the American Frontier”. Available at http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/economics/gordon/355.pdf
Chasing the leader
Feb 6th 2003
From The Economist print edition
Are Europeans really so much worse off than Americans?
AMERICA has been the world's economic leader for over a century. Economic theory suggests that western Europe should be catching up. Yet average GDP per head in the European Union, measured at purchasing-power parity, is only three-quarters of that in the United States. A popular explanation is that European firms are less productive because they are hampered by labour- and product-market regulation. But European productivity, measured by output per hour worked, has in fact almost caught up with America's. If Europeans are so productive, though, why are they apparently so much poorer than Americans?
( Maybe they aren't. )
* “Two Centuries of Economic Growth: Europe Chasing the American Frontier”. Available at http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/economics/gordon/355.pdf
