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Western Europe’s Growth Prospects: an Historical Perspective

Western Europe’s Growth Prospects: an Historical Perspective

71/2012 Nicholas Crafts
working papers, economic history
National Institute Economic Review
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002795011322400102

71/2012 Nicholas Crafts

This paper surveys the recent history of Western European growth. It concludes that this experience has been disappointing and that further reforms are desirable in many countries. The requirement for reform comes both from achieving 'close-to-frontier' status and from the opportunities provided by the new technological era. The paper goes on to consider the effects that the current crisis may have on medium-term growth rates. The lesson from the 1930s is that, if the current crisis leads to a similarly bad downturn, the policy reaction in terms of greater state intervention will not be conducive to improved growth prospects.

Economic History

National Institute Economic Review

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002795011322400102