Why is the US more productive than the EU?

Between 2007 and 2024, labor productivity grew 18% more in the United States than in the European Union. The Draghi report concluded that part of this gap is due to the EU not being a good environment to start and scale up firms, especially in the most innovative sectors, because of skill shortages, management practices, technology adoption, depth of integration within the single market, or a weaker financing environment. This lecture will present some new research that quantifies which of these matter, and points the way to what are the most promising policies and reforms.

Meet our Speaker & Chair

Ricardo Reis is the A.W. Phillips Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. He is an elected Fellow of the British Academy, the Academia de Ciências de Lisboa, and the Econometric Society, and is a past winner of the Yrjo Jahnsson medal, the Carl Menger award, the Bernacer prize, and the BdF/TSE junior prize. Professor Reis is an academic consultant at the Bank of England, the European Stability Mechanism, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, and he serves on the council or as an advisor of multiple organizations. He has published widely on macroeconomics, including both monetary and fiscal policy, inflation and business cycles, and finance in the international monetary system. Professor Reis received his PhD from Harvard University, and was previously on the faculty at Columbia University and Princeton University.

Chairs:

Vassilis Monastiriotis is Director of the LSE Centre for Research on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus - Hellenic Observatory, Professor in Political Economy and Eleftherios Venizelos Chair of Contemporary Greek Studies at the European Institute, LSE.

Aristeidis Samitas is Professor of Finance, Vice Rector for Finance and Development, Director of MSc in FinTech and Director of the Financial Investments Lab within the Department of Business Administration at the School of Economics and Political Sciences, University of Athens.

More about this event

The LSE Athens Lectures series has been organised by the Hellenic Observatory of the London School of Economics for the period from 2014 to 2021. The series is relaunched in 2024-25 as a joint initiative of the Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, MSc Programme Financial Technology, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens and the LSE Centre for Research on Contemporary Greece & Cyprus - Hellenic Observatory. For more information visit: www.lse.ac.uk/HO/Athens-Lectures

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You can contact us at Hellenicobservatory@lse.ac.uk

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LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.