[sam h]

This is a tough conversation to have because the European countries are quite different in important ways. The larger Christian Democratic countries like France and Germany really face fundamentally different challenges than the smaller Social Democratic countries of the north.

Overall, the larger countries have struggled to adapt more. But it is actually difficult to ascertain why. Take the case of Germany, for example. They have had a lot of economic difficulties in the last decade, and now is coming home to roost politically. But how do we separate the effects of certain policies that people associate with the German "model" and the cost of reunification? This is often overlooked in the German case. For West Germany to have merged with East Germany is almost like the United States merging with Mexico at this point (in terms of economics). It has been so much more costly than anybody imagined, and still the eastern part of the country is almost like an economic dead zone so it will stay costly into the future.

As always the answer is that if you are to take these questions seriously, then you have to get beyond the simplistic "My model is better than your model. Your model is fundamentally flawed" assertions.

No easy answers.