Notes on Europe's Economy – Paul Krugman

I’m flying back to New York tomorrow after several weeks in the Netherlands. Alas, I felt obliged to devote a significant part of my time here to writing about Donald Trump. And while I had many meetings with students, academics and government officials, much of what they wanted to talk about was … Donald Trump.

Still, I’ve been talking with wise taxi drivers accumulating impressions, which isn’t worthless: You should always be wary of statistics if they seem very much at odds with what you see walking around and talking to people. I’m well aware that I’ve been staying in an affluent part of the Netherlands, and that the Netherlands as a whole are one of Europe’s best-performing economies. So my walking-around impressions surely make the state of Europe look better than it is. But I still think casual observation has some value.

I’ve also been doing some number-crunching, which supports my casual observation that reports of Europe’s economic death are greatly exaggerated. So I thought I’d write a primer on the state of the European economy, which has significant problems but is in better shape than many people imagine. (And I’m not just talking about criticism from ugly Americans: I seem to be more optimistic about Europe than any of the Europeans I’ve spoken to!)

Beyond the paywall I’ll address the following:

1. Zombie myths about Europe

2. Why is per capita GDP lower in Europe than in the U.S.?

3. Europe lags in advanced technology. Why? And does it matter?