One European headline reads "Why Europe is falling behind the USA," and Le Monde tells us that compared to the United States, "The gap with European living standards has never been wider."

The gap between US and European living standards has been noticeable for some time, and some European countries aren't even keeping up with the poorest states in the United States. That is, when we look at measures of income, states like West Virginia and Mississippi compare favorably against European countries like France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. 

This has led to what some observers of international macroeconomics call the "Mississippi Question." The question goes something like this: "is my country poorer than the poorest state in the United States?" The poorest state is presumably Mississippi, and if your country is worse off than Mississippi, that's evidence that your country has nothing to brag about in terms of its standard of living.