But at 3 percent per year, the standard of living would double about every 23 years, or once every generation; by contrast, at 1-1/2 percent, a doubling would occur only roughly every 47 years, or once every other generation. Among the many consequences of the productivity slowdown was a further complication for the monetary policy makers of the 1970s.
The ensuing “culture of stability and confidence” would be the best advertisement for countries about to join the European Union. This brings me to the second issue. Enlargement and its impact on the European economy In 2004 the European Union faces the challenge of enlargement: its largest expansion ever.