* Because it's much harder to fire employees in EU, which makes employing people much riskier.
* Because the rules for employing people (working hours, vacation, etc) are much stricter.
* Because entrepreneurship is stigmatized in EU.
* Because insolvency in the EU involves years of trusteeship and significant legal hardship.
* Because selling in the EU and elsewhere abroad involves more border crossings and different regulatory regimes.
* Because taxes in EU are spectacularly high, not just for the top earners but all the way down through the middle class.
You could fix all of these today (bk reform is apparently a major theme in Europe) and it might still be a generation before the region becomes competitive with the US.
Thanks for that comment. So many arguments break things down into simple one-dimensional reductionist perspectives. There are so many material differences between the US and the EU that it's impossible to predict exactly how incremental regulatory changes in either place will change things.
I remember a joke I heard a few years ago about how by law German offices must have windows and German garages must not have windows, so you can't ever start a company in your garage.
* Because it's much harder to fire employees in EU, which makes employing people much riskier.
* Because the rules for employing people (working hours, vacation, etc) are much stricter.
* Because entrepreneurship is stigmatized in EU.
* Because insolvency in the EU involves years of trusteeship and significant legal hardship.
* Because selling in the EU and elsewhere abroad involves more border crossings and different regulatory regimes.
* Because taxes in EU are spectacularly high, not just for the top earners but all the way down through the middle class.
You could fix all of these today (bk reform is apparently a major theme in Europe) and it might still be a generation before the region becomes competitive with the US.