Europe Tops U.S. as Global Growth Locomotive: Cutting Research

While Europe struggles to raise its economic growth rate, when it does it provides a more powerful boost to the world economy than the U.S., says Barclays Plc in a challenge to conventional wisdom.

A 1 percent increase in aggregate demand in Europe’s developed nations gives 33 of 39 international economies a bigger lift in their gross value added, a proxy for gross domestic product, than if the higher demand had occurred in the U.S., Barclays strategists including London-based Jim McCormick said in a Sept. 25 report.