, 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 …

. Results are presented for the U. S., Japan, and an aggregate called "Europe" consisting of eleven European economies. The … primary theme of the paper is that differences between Europe and the U. S. have been substantially exaggerated in recent work …. Europe has neither greater nominal wage flexibility nor more rigid real wages than the U. S. Evidence that the U. S. exhibits …

decade. (5) Finally, why did productivity growth slow down in Europe but accelerate in the U. S.? A consensus is emerging … that U. S. institutions foster creative destruction and financial markets that welcome innovation, while Europe remains … under the control of corporatist institutions that dampen competition and inhibit new entry. Further, Europe lacks a youth …