G4 Q1 2010: The end of empire

The peak of the stock market ten years ago ushered in one of the worst decades on record for the G4 economies and their stock markets. Most strikingly, the US economy fared particularly badly. In absolute terms, the past decade constitutes the worst since the 1930s. Employment failed to grow for the first time during the twentieth century. This is in stark contrast to the 7 million jobs generated by its European counterparts, and the 20 million jobs the US itself produced in each of the two preceding decades. Only Japan fared worse among the G4...