Western Europe. An important factor, recognized in the literature, is that China centralized state institutions very early on …, while Europe remained politically fragmented for much longer. These initial differences, however, were amplified by the … different social organizations (clans in China, corporate structures in Europe) that spread in these two societies at the turn …

, Europe fell behind steadily to a level of barely half in 1950, and then began a rapid catch-up. While Europe's level of … productivity has almost converged, its income per person has leveled off at about three-quarters of America's. How could Europe be … so productive yet so poor? The simple answer is that hours per person in Europe have fallen drastically in the past 40 …

After fifty years of catching up to the United States level of productivity, since 1995 Europe has been falling behind …. The growth rate in output per hour over 1995-2003 in Europe was just half that in the United States, and this annual … the period since 1995. Disaggregated studies of industrial sectors suggest that the main difference between Europe and the …