An aging and shrinking population, perhaps more than anything else, makes it difficult for Europe to achieve healthy economic growth. What’s been present instead are persistent worries about deflation, countries requiring bailouts, a sickly banking sector, a polarizing refugee crisis, the prospect of Britain leaving the European Union, the rise of populist political movements and a 19-nation eurozone economy that’s still smaller today—never mind falling oil prices and a heavy dose of monetary stimulus—than it was before the throes of the global economic crisis in 2008, according to The Economist. Europe, alas, is no place for optimists.
