I've often said that, as impressive as post-World War II growth on continental Europe might have been up to 1973, the institutions built during that growth doomed Europe (especially France and Germany) to failure post-1973.  Why?  "The new situation called for flexible and mobile work relationships, technological novelty and the financing of risky ventures — none of which Europe's post-war institutions were good at."

Seriously, can you think of a single decent hedge or private equity fund manager based in continental Europe?  I can't.   The good ones are all in the U.S., U.K. and, lately, Asia.

According to the new book by Barry Eichengreen, a political science and economics professor at Cal-Berkeley, The European Economy Since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond,* some European countries are successfully adapting.

Others, like France and Germany, will have to follow their lead.  Otherwise, they will probably face the decline the pessimists have long been predicting.

For more on my disdain for the Germans and the French, go here and here.

*Note:  I haven't actually read the book.  My information (and the quotes above) comes from this review of the book.