The current New Left Review (#237) contains an article by James K. Galbraith et al., "Inequality and Unemployment in Europe: The American Cure," which the editor summarizes as follows:
Galbraith and his colleagues "argue that state programs play a huge role in boosting US economic performance and that relatively low levels of unemployment have produced a reduction of some key indicators of economic inequality in comparison with the EU. According to these authors, the EU `superstate' does precious little to mitigate the inequalities which yawn between rich and poor regions. In the US, public spending on several areas of social expenditure -- university education, scientific research, social security retirement pensions, military outlays -- is not only higher than in Europe but contributes both to economic growth and to redistribution from wealthier to poorer states. The conclusion [is] that Reagan and Clinton have been more effectively interventionist than Europe's social democrats..."
I'd be interested in comments from this list. --C. G. Estabrook