The European Union's economy today is where the US economy was in the late 1970s, according to a provocative study. It shows that the employment rate of just over 64 per cent attained by the EU in 2003, the latest year for which comparable data are available, was achieved in the US in 1978. Research and development spending in the EU matches the US level in 1979.

Europe's performance is slightly better in terms of gross domestic product per head, where the 2003 figure of $25,336 (€18,881, £13,176) corresponds to US data for 1985.