The US economy has performed very well since the early 1980s. Since then, real GDP growth has been the highest among G7 countries and well above the OECD average. In per capita terms real incomes remain much higher than in nearly all Member countries. Productivity gains picked up markedly in the second half of the 1990s, and there has been a further acceleration of late. Following a period of sluggish growth and massive policy stimulus, the economy has now enjoyed nearly a year of strong expansion, growing by about 5 per cent (annualised) over the past three quarters...