Very interesting study (pdf)
prepared by the Swedish think-tank Timbro. Some of the conclusions:
- if we assume the American economy to be at complete standstill in terms
of GDP growth there is only one country from EU that would be able to catch
up with the USA - Ireland. Five years' growth in the other European
countries will still not suffice to catch up with a wholly stagnant American
economy.
- many European countries have lower per capita GDP than the majority of
states in the USA
-
retail consumption in the USA is higher
-
high incomes coupled with low taxes mean high private consumption in the
USA
-
the tax wedge can be termed very high in at least nine European countries.
At most, in a group of at least nine countries the seller of a sevice is
allowed to retain 25% of the income generated by the purchaser of the
service. There are several countries where the tax wedge exceeds 80 per
cent. A taxation system like this naturally results in resources in the
economy being wrongly used.
-
in USA, even with all taxes and charges included, the seller of a service
retains nearly 50% of the total original income from the buyer. Thus not
only does the USA have a lower general tax burden, its tax wedges are also
appreciably lower.
- poor development in
Europe is connected not so much with bad economics as with Europeans
themselves opting to work less. Viewed in this light, Europe's lower level
of material prosperity results from its own choice to have more
leisure.
(via Fredrik)
UPDATE: More on
the topic on the grounds of the same study over at Me-Fi.
