In the US and Japan,  1  CPB (2006), China and the Dutch Economy; Stylised facts and prospects, CPB Document 127. 2  While annual productivity growth recently decelerated from 2.4% (1970-1995) to 1.3% (1995-2004) in the euro area, it accelerated from 1.3% to 2.4% in the US. Source: European Commission (2007), Annual report on the euro area.
3  Source: ECB (2005), Competitiveness and the export performance of the euro area, Occasional Paper no. 30. BIS Review 75/2007  1  R&D-expenditures 4 in total manufacturing are about 50% higher than in the euro area. A second factor which might explain our weak productivity growth, is the education of the European population.