Productivity has grown faster in western Europe than in America

THE EU ECONOMYGDPGDP is now 65% the size of America’s in dollar terms, down from 90% just ten years ago. Slow population growth is partly to blame—the number of Europeans has risen by 1.6% since 2012, compared with 6.1% for Americans. Still, per person is higher, and has grown far faster, in the United States than in Europe.As a result, commentators and think-tanks have set about comparing the economies of some of Europe’s richest countries to those of America’s poorest states. But comparisons based simply on per person are poor measures of economic welfare. Goods and services cost more in some countries than in others, and working more does not always make people better off. Adjusting for these factors suggests that countries like Denmark and Austria are in fact more productive than America.