Productivity and Economic Growth in Europe: A Comparative Industry Perspective

Abstract

Why did European productivity growth slow down while American growth accelerated since the 1990s? In this article we provide a detailed analysis of the sources of growth from a comparative industry perspective, based on our recent book Economic Growth in Europe. We argue that Europe’s falling behind is the combined result of a severe productivity slowdown in traditional manufacturing and other goods production, and a concomitant failure to invest in and reap the benefits from Information and Communications Technology (ICT), in particular in market services. The analysis is based on an update of the EU KLEMS growth accounting database and introduces a new measure for patterns of growth.

Keywords

• klems database
• ict
• productivity