Rather than blaming culture or taxes, Messrs Alesina, Glaeser and Sacerdote instead credit trade unions.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus

Messrs Alesina, Glaeser and Sacerdote think this principle might help to explain why Europeans work so much less than Americans.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus

Slowing the economy, such a trend could increase the share of the population relying on government transfers, leading to a vicious cycle (Alesina and Wacziarg 1998).

FORBES: Data in New World Bank Report Shows that Large Public Sectors Reduce Economic Growth

The path back to stronger growth, argues Mr. Alesina, is a combination of significant, permanent cuts in public spending and relatively small tax increases, if any.

WSJ: Henninger: Escape From Spending Hell

Alberto Alesina is a professor of political economy at Harvard University, and Veronique de Rugy is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

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Mr. Alesina, a professor at Harvard University, may be the last economist that Democrats want to deal with at the moment Americans are finding sympathy for spending cuts.

WSJ: Henninger: Escape From Spending Hell