The Mismeasure of Europe’s Economy (Sami Mahroum, 7/01/26, Project Syndicate)
Europe is indeed less productive than the US, and the gap has widened by constant-price measures. But Europe is also richer than it was a decade ago: output per capita has risen, and the European Union’s employment rate reached a record 76.1% in 2025. Moreover, Europe does not feel poorer, since much of its wealth is embodied in its cities, institutions, and reputation.
What has slowed, then, is not wealth accumulation itself but the rate at which it is renewed. Slower renewal, rather than decline, is the defining feature of what might be called a “stock economy,” in contrast to America’s “flow economy.” […]
The productivity gap, in other words, reflects not only varying levels of dynamism but also the extent to which output comes from inherited assets rather than new wealth creation. A study of the economic impact of UNESCO World Heritage designations in Italy found that listed localities experienced faster growth in both resident populations and the share of high-income taxpayers, fueling demand for luxury housing. Strip away those passive legacy rents, and Europe’s dynamic core might look thinner than either Krugman or Aghion acknowledges. Viewed this way, Europe is less an economy in decline than one living comfortably off a remarkable inheritance while struggling to convert it into new growth.
Nowhere is the distinction clearer than in each economy’s signature industries. Europe’s defining global industry is luxury: a stock-based sector in which heritage and reputation become more valuable with time. America’s economic flagships are software and, increasingly, AI, where value depends on pushing the technological frontier.
The limits of the stock economy become apparent when firms try to scale. While Europe is home to more than 35,000 startups and many world-class companies, scaling is fundamentally a flow process. Europe’s capital is abundant but rooted, its talent is embedded in existing institutions, and its markets remain fragmented.
As a result, European savings are largely invested abroad. According to the European Parliament, roughly €300 billion ($343 billion) in savings leave the EU each year, much of it funding American innovation. In his 2024 report on European competitiveness, former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi reached a similar conclusion: Europe struggles to translate its scientific excellence, vast savings, and industrial depth into rapidly scaling firms.
