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The article presents data on economic conditions in developed countries as of June 11, 2005. After last week's retreat, the euro recovered a little, rising above $1.23 on June 8th. Bonds continue to boom. During trading this week, yields on the ten-year German government bond fell to a record low of 3.12%. Hiring in America was much weaker than expected. Non-farm businesses added just 78,000 workers to their payrolls in May, having added 274,000 the month before. Unit labour costs also increased faster than previously thought, rising by 3.3% in the first quarter compared with previous estimates of 2.2%. The unemployment rate fell to 5.1%. In the euro area, the volume of retail sales shrank by 0.9% in the year to April, after growing by 1.4% in the year to March. But the NTC survey of purchasing managers in services was more encouraging. It suggested that the services sector was in its best shape since October. In the Netherlands, industrial production contracted by 0.7% in the year to April. In Germany, it expanded by 1.8%, largely due to a rebound in construction, which grew by 18.6% over the month of April. In Britain, seasonally-adjusted house prices fell by 0.6% in May, according to Halifax, a mortgage lender. The year-on-year rate of house-price inflation is now 5.7%, compared with a peak of 22.1% in the year to July 2004. Statistics on 15 developed economies, plus closer looks at economic forecasts, and derivatives.

The article looks at European labor reform and the 35-hour work week as of July 2004. Putting the 35-hour week into law was a mistake. It is holding back economic growth and the competitiveness of French firms, scaring off foreign investors and killing job creation. In Germany the 35-hour week, introduced in the decade before 1995, is one of many factors that have raised labor costs to levels that have stifled growth and dulled productivity. The reform program launched by the government in 2003 hardly touches labor agreements or the power of workers' representatives within a firm. Privately more and more companies in Germany are preparing deals with their workers that raise the bar to 40 hours. Siemens was only the most visible pioneer. It persuaded its workers, and their union IG Metall, to accept a week of up to 40 hours, with no extra pay, to avoid the relocation of Siemens's mobile-telephone production to Hungary. The unions are ignoring the near-unanimous chorus of economists, industry analysts, and even some workers' representatives who argue that the 35-hour week is unsustainable, given the low-wage competition from central Europe.

Presents an overview of the economic and financial indicators of various countries. Increase in inflation throughout Europe due to higher oil prices; Decline in consumer-confidence index in Michigan; Report that the industrial productivity has increased in the U.S. whereas it has decelerated in Europe.

This article presents economic and financial indicators of Europe and the U.S., as of February 2003. America's industrial production rose in January by 0.7%. But other data suggest that consumers are stuttering as an engine of economic growth. Housing remains one of America's few sectors with strong growth. Sweden's economy is showing signs of weakness. Industrial production fell by 2.0% in the year to December. Unemployment rose to 5.1%in January, from 4.1%in December. Meanwhile, sluggish growth is taking its toll on Switzerland's consumers: retail sates fell by 2.8% in the year to December.

Presents tabular data pertaining to economic and financial indicators as of June 22, 2002. Decline in share prices in Japan; Flat consumer prices in the U.S.; Decrease in industrial production in the euro area; Decrease in consumer-price inflation in Great Britain; Statistics regarding output, demand, jobs, prices, and wages.

Compares the European economy to the United States economy. Reasons why more people are making investments into the U.S.; Thought that Europe is closing the gap between it and the U.S. in gross domestic product (GDP) and growth productivity in manufacturing; Strength of the euro against the U.S. dollar.

Examines 1999 productivity growth in Europe and the euro area. Historical overview; Contributions to the decline; Gross domestic product; Contribution of economic adjustment to labor market reform; Comparison to the United States; Demographic trends.

Comments on the valuation of the British pound sterling as of April 2000. Complaints about the role of the strong pound in difficulties facing British manufacturers, including the automobile industry; Overcapacity in the European automobile industry; Foreign investment in Britain; Manufacturing output; Implications of membership in Europe's monetary union.

The article focuses on economic and financial indicators for the year 1992. Western Germany's industrial production jumped by 1.2% in February, putting it 3.2% higher than in the same month a year ago. In January output was unchanged from a year earlier. Great Britain's industrial output also recovered in February, but it was still 1.6% lower than in February 1991. Good weather in West Africa has reduced speculation about another production deficit in 1992-93. Rising cocoa consumption in Western Europe and the United States has failed to boost the cocoa market. Prices in London have slumped by 20% this year.

This article focuses on the European chemical industries. Big chemical companies are still struggling to come up with a way to reduce the dramatic boom-bust swings, which have always be deviled their industry. One way is to try to smooth out the swings in energy costs by switching almost daily from gas to naphtha as a raw material, something modern ethylene plants can do. Europe's biggest chemical firms seem determined to drive out the highest-cost producers through ferocious price-cutting. For many chemical firms it may be too late to get into the drug business, which has been the industry's favorite diversification route. The biggest barrier is the need to build a large sales force.

The article looks at how small businesses affect the economic problems Europe is seeing as of March 2012. Small firms' lack of productivity as compared to large firms is noted. The author suggests that the economic problems of the euro zone in 2011-2012 could be offset if small firms were able to grow bigger and raise their productivity, which would increase economic competition in Europe and mitigate the debt and inflation problems.

The article focuses on the economic effects inclement weather has on the economy. It states that economic effects of December snow storms in Europe are still visible in official data, with Britain reporting a 0.5 percent fall in the gross domestic product for the last quarter of 2010 and Germany's statistical office announcing its industrial production shrank by 1.5 percent in December. The article suggests economic activity is displaced instead of destroyed by inclement weather.

The article presents the productivity growth theory which suggests countries with relatively low output per worker or per hour will catch up with the leaders, as capital and information flow to less productive places where potential returns are greatest. It determines that, in reality, convergence has not been so efficient, with the U.S. continuing to see surges that Europe has not. Specific causes are considered, with particular attention paid to the role of Information Technology investments.

The article describes how industrial-production growth is picking up speed in several countries. Output is growing most spectacularly in China where production rose by 17.2% in the year to October. It is also increasing at an impressive rate in Turkey, with production up by 12.7% in the 12 months to September. Hungary remains the most stable emerging economy of those monitored by Lehman Brothers and the Eurasia Group, a firm that analyses political risk. According to their political-stability index, which tries to measure a country's ability both to withstand crises and to avoid generating them, Hungary scores 74 out of a possible 100, down from a score of 78 a year ago.

America has been the world's economic leader for over a century. Economic theory suggests that western Europe should be catching up. Yet average GDP per head in the European Union, measured at purchasing-power parity, is only three-quarters of that in the United States. A popular explanation is that European firms are less productive because they are hampered by labour- and product-market regulation. But European productivity, measured by output per hour worked, has in fact almost caught up with America's. If Europeans are so productive, though, why are they apparently so much poorer than Americans? The narrowing of the productivity gap has not been reflected in living standards, as measured by GDP per head. Robert Gordon, an economist at Northwestern University, discusses how Europe's productivity and GDP per head fell relative to America's from the mid-19th century until around 1950. Productivity has since rebounded, almost reaching American levels. GDP per head, on the other hand, rose sharply until 1970, but then flattened off at 77% of America's.

Reports on a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which examines the impact that regulation of product and labor markets has on productivity and the ways that regulation may deter entrepreneurs from setting up new firms. The three ways that an economy's productivity can increase; View that low productivity growth in Europe is caused by high barriers to entry that deter new firms; Evidence that regulation reduces productivity.

Discusses reasons why unemployment in Europe is high and why the rates of individual economies have diverged. Factors which are thought to drive unemployment in Europe, including slowing productivity growth in the 1970s; Topic of the divergence of unemployment rates in Europe, where some countries brought unemployment down while it rose elsewhere; Idea that labor-market institutions may help explain cross-country differences in unemployment.