28/08/2006 11:00:34 am
Europeans Are Productive, But Governments Stop Them From Working. In a recent paper, professor Robert J Gordon has analysed the reasons behind the fact that Europeans on average only have an income at 70 per cent of the average American. He argues that Europeans are almost as productive as Americans. The main difference is that a bigger share of the American population is working and they work more. He dismisses the popular notion in Europe that Europeans value their leisure time more than Americans.

The reason is, according ot Professor Gordon, that governments in Europe make work less profitable and non-work is rewarded. He especially points out systems of early retirement as a damaging system for European prosperity. This conclusion would have a policy impact. Productivity is not invented by politicians - it develops in research and in companies. But if government - in terms of taxes on work and early retriement schemes - is the reason for lower incomes, then politicians can do something directly.

Read the paper here - >