I actually think it makes sense to look at slices of the EU since the composition of the EU has changed over time. Countries like Germany and France were at a v

I actually think it makes sense to look at slices of the EU since the composition of the EU has changed over time. Countries like Germany and France were at a very different level of development compared to Estonia or Poland. So it makes sense to break things out to try to account for that. And what it says is the gap for GDP (PPP) per capita between the North/West EU versus the US hasn't narrowed since 1980. It has widened vs. South EU. All the effect seen at an EU level is from the East. There are lots of interesting stories you can tell and lessons you can learn from these trends, but it's not a story of core EU outperforming.