The American edge

How the US is leaving its competitors behind through a mix of resource intensity and economic nationalism

It may be hard for some to remember, but just a couple of decades ago the United States and much of Europe were broadly comparable in terms of per capita income. This parity was reflected in the competitiveness of their products, and the global heft of their corporations. A gap opened up between the two halves of the West during the global financial crisis and the euro zone’s debt struggles that followed; it expanded during the pandemic, and in the nearly two years since the invasion of Ukraine has reached levels reminiscent of periods when Europe was devastated by war.

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