Why Eurozone Productivity Growth Is Lagging the US

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the widening productivity gap between the eurozone and the United States. With eurozone real GDP growing at an annualized 1.6% in Q1 2026 while the US economy runs hotter, the hosts examine structural factors holding back European output per worker: smaller tech sector investment, slower adoption of AI in services, and labor market rigidities. They spotlight recent ECB research showing that eurozone total factor productivity has grown at barely 0.3% annually since 2019, versus 1.1% in the US. The conversation also touches on how the skilled labor shortage, previously covered in episode 26, is now morphing into a capital-deepening problem. Lucas and Luna close by asking whether Europe's new defense spending surge could inadvertently boost productivity through industrial modernization. #EurozoneProductivity #ECB #ProductivityGap #EurozoneEconomy #USvsEurope #TotalFactorProductivity #LaborMarket #AIAdoption #TechInvestment #DefenseSpending #IndustrialPolicy #RealGDP #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #EuropeanEconomy #SkilledLaborShortage #CapitalDeepening Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo