"Economic growth in Europe has been disappointing in the past few years, especially when compared to the US, and in addition growth in the UK has looked more robust than that in the large continental economies. There could be many factors that could contribute to these differences, and they are addressed in the articles by Crafts; Barrell, Guillemineau and Holland; Mc Morrow and Röger; and Bebee and Hunt in this Review. This introduction discusses some of the factors affecting growth, and draws some conclusions from these studies that help us understand why growth may differ between countries for sustained periods of time, and also why underlying, or trend growth rates may vary over time."

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