Chasing The Leader
This is an article comparing the living standards of the U.S. and Europe. The U.S uses GDP per capita and Europe uses GDP per head to measure their living standard. In examining the living standards between these two countries, the author looks at both productivity and GDP in his analysis. America has been the world’s economic leader for over a century. Economic theory suggests that Western Europe is catching up. GDP per head is only three-quarters of that in the U.S., but European productivity, measures by output per hour worked, has in fact almost caught up with the U.S. Europe’s productivity has been in a surge since 1950. This is largely explained by reconstruction after the war and belated exploitation of electricity and the mass production of cars.