Social Norms, Institutions and Macroeconomic Policies

The theme of this paper came out as an effort to understand the difference in economic policy strategies on both sides of the Atlantic. Why since at least two decades macroeconomic policies have been so active in the US and so passive in Europe? Why does governments in Europe accepts rather passively a persistent high level of unemployment? What explains their apparent resignation to a slow growth trend? Is there a fundamental difference in institutions, that can explain such a prolonged difference in growth performances? My answer to these questions has varied through time.