So the Americans did it. They avoided the fiscal cliff – right at the 11th hour, much as many of us suspected they would. Not that America’s travails are over. Quite the opposite. The fiscal problem has been merely deferred, not cured. Meanwhile, even given Congressional agreement on immediate fiscal issues, the pace of economic recovery is set to be modest. Yet even this is better than the outlook for the eurozone, where the economy is likely to languish, if not to contract further. Why do the US and the eurozone present such different economic prospects? One possible answer is...