The Grand Illusion: The US – Europe Growth Gap

Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain

There is a widely told story among elite pundit types that the US economy is soaring ahead, and Europe’s economy is mired in stagnation. As is the case most of the time when there is an elite consensus, it is wrong. A new post by Seth Ackerman shows that the differences in growth, and especially productivity growth (GDP per hour of work), are driven almost entirely by differences in measurement, not differences in economic performance.