ABSTRACT
In the thirty years after the Second World War, during the Trente glorieuses, Germany, France, and Italy experienced exceptionally high rates of economic growth compared to the United States and Britain. The gap is partly explained by reconstruction and the increasing inputs of labour, but it was primarily propelled by long-term productivity catch up with the US, the frontier economy. After the 1980s, Germany and France diverged from Italy and Britain: the former two experienced high relative productivity, yet lower inequality and working hours, while the latter pair’s relative output per labour unit declined even while workers worked more and suffered more unequal revenues – despite benefitting from the European single market. To examine the long-term superior egalitarian growth in Germany and France, we need to investigate their postwar governance reforms.
