#Real Stuff: Tailor-made reforms are key to economic growth for European countries

According to Jeffrey Franks, Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Europe Office,** reforms to generate higher productivity are key to a post-crisis economic growth plan for Europe. These cannot be a 'one size fits all' reform policy and must be custom-made to fill a country’s own shortcomings or needs.**

“The kinds of economic reforms that can generate higher productivity growth should be an absolute priority if you want greater income convergence. Those reforms are not necessarily going to be the same in each country because in different countries there might be different bottlenecks for faster economic growth. In some countries, it may be that product markets are too rigid and there is too much regulation in product markets. In other areas there may be problems in the labour market that need to be addressed. In other countries it may be a need for increased research and development spending or a better higher education system so it would be an individually tailored response depending upon the country but those are the areas that I would look for, for higher economic growth.”