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Groot, Henri L.F. de; Nahuis, Richard; Tang, Paul J.G.; Fitz Gerald, John --- "Is the American Model Miss World? Choosing Between the Anglo-Saxon Model and a European-Style Alternative" [2006] ELECD 118; in Mundschenk, Susanne; Stierle, H. Michael; Stierle-von Schütz, Ulrike; Traistaru-Siedschlag, Iulia (eds), "Competitiveness and Growth in Europe" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: Competitiveness and Growth in Europe

Editor(s): Mundschenk, Susanne; Stierle, H. Michael; Stierle-von Schütz, Ulrike; Traistaru-Siedschlag, Iulia

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845426620

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Is the American Model Miss World? Choosing Between the Anglo-Saxon Model and a European-Style Alternative

Author(s): Groot, Henri L.F. de; Nahuis, Richard; Tang, Paul J.G.; Fitz Gerald, John

Number of pages: 31

Extract:

6. Is the American Model Miss World?
Choosing Between the Anglo-Saxon
Model and a European-Style
Alternative
Henri L.F. de Groot, Richard Nahuis,
and Paul J.G. Tang1

6.1 INTRODUCTION

`France had the seventeenth century, Britain the nineteenth, and America the
twentieth. It will also have the twenty-first.' That was predicted in 1998 in
Foreign Affairs. The author, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, was jubilant about the
American economic performance and saw a happy marriage of the new
economy and the older American culture. Indeed, in the second half of the
1990s the United States productivity growth accelerated and employment
expanded. The contrast with Europe was sharp. Most European countries
experienced sluggish productivity growth and struggled with high
unemployment rates.
A cursory look at the data suggests that Europe has indeed a lot to learn
from the US. Table 6.1 ranks the United States and European countries
according to production per head of the population and shows the
employment rate.2 Clearly, the United States is much richer than any of the
European countries. The second on the list, Ireland, has approximately 10%
less income per capita (from production) than the United States. At the
bottom of the list are countries in Southern Europe that entered the European
Union relatively recently. They are still significantly behind the European
average.
Not only is the United States richer, it is also better at providing jobs than
most European countries. A few exceptions to this rule exist, though.
Norway, Denmark, ...