NP - Hard-Working Italians vs Lazy Germans

[David Morris]

http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/11/18/371752/hard-working-italians-vs-lazy-germans/

The ongoing economic struggles in Europe have a somewhat unfortunate
tendency to cause people to resort to somewhat lazy national
stereotypes when discussing the issues. I keep hearing that
hard-working Germans won’t stand to subsidize lazy Club Med
lifestyles. But note that Italians put in much longer hours hours than
Germans and the gap is growing:  [SEE CHART]

That’s not because Germans are lazy, it’s because German workers are
productive and the gap is growing. When workers get more productive,
they consume more goods and services, but they also work less. And
most of all, productivity and “hard work” are not the same thing.
Vietnamese rice farmers have abysmal labor productivity, but they’re
working very hard. In general, workers in high-productivity northern
European countries (Netherlands, Denmark, etc.) work less, not more,
than their southerly neighbors.