FT columnist Samuel Brittan looks at the numbers, and finds that Canada and the US lead the major developed countries in recovery from the Great Recession of 2008.
I have a table of the behaviour of the main industrial economies since their pre-recession peak of 2007-08. Taking both that recession and the recovery from it, Canada heads the list with a net gain of real gross domestic product of 4.1 per cent. The US comes next with 2.2 per cent, followed by Germany with 1.7 per cent. France is still 0.8 per cent behind its earlier peak and Japan is 1.9 per cent short. The UK is almost bottom of the class with a net fall of 3.1 per cent, a drop exceeded only by Italy among the G7 countries. ….
Because of Congressional Republican opposition, the economic stimulus has not been as large as Mr Obama would have liked. Even so, it is a pity he has not had a Treasury secretary who would have proclaimed the relative superiority of US policy from the rooftops, as Larry Summers, an earlier Democrat incumbent of this post, would have.
Samuel Brittan, “America must be doing something right“, Financial Times, 9 November 2012.
The Conservative government’s austerity measures so far have failed to restore investor confidence in Britain. Be forewarned. Austerity will continue until confidence returns!
Samuel Brittan’s past columns are posted here.
Tags: growth, Samuel Brittan