Abstract:
Advanced economies generally grew in real terms from 2000 until they stumbled badly after the financial crisis in late 2008. Their performance subsequent to the crisis has varied widely. This paper takes a close look at overall performance from 2000 onward of six advanced economies: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The paper’s basic measure of performance is the level of real labour earnings per member of the population. This measure is appropriate because a main focus of concern about economic stagnation has been on low growth or even shrinkage in family incomes. Post-crisis performance was remarkably heterogeneous across the six countries. Although performance was general sub-par, no single theory of stagnation fits the data.