Potential Output: Measurement Methods, "New" Economy Influences and Scenarios for 2001-2010. A Comparison of the EU15 and the US.

This paper is divided into 4 sections. 1) Deals with measurement issues and provides an overview of both the main statistical trend estimation methods as well as the more economically respectable production function approach. 2) Gives a detailed presentation of the potential output and output gap figures for the HP filter, as well as the production function (PF). 3) & 4) Assess the plausibility of the, production function derived, potential growth estimates for the EU and the US for recent years and ask the question whether these growth estimates are sustainable over the long run.