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I always think so, but this appears not to be true. Social safety nets are much stronger in Europe but people in the US take a lot more risk.

• toomuchtodo 9y ago
  > but people in the US take a lot more risk. Can you provide a citation? Because the people I see taking risk are those who already are well off or who have family and/or family wealth to fall back on.
  • kcorbitt 9y ago
    That may well be true, although it seems like an over-generalization. But there are plenty of people in Europe with rich families as well, and yet from my own experience (living in the UK and Spain) it feels like folks are generally more risk-adverse there, even when they have the economic means to take a chance. I do think there are cultural norms that drive this to at least as great a degree as individuals' circumstances.
    • toomuchtodo 9y ago
      Perhaps they're risk adverse because their upside potential isn't as large as in the US? Why waste your life trying to shoot the moon if life is pretty good as-is? One of the greatest regrets people have on their death bed is working too much, and not spending enough time with loved ones. [1] [1] http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/04/27/the-top-5-regrets-of-the-dying/ http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/04/27/the-top-5-reg...
      • toyg 9y ago
        Perhaps it's simply that they are older countries. If you are the descendant of a family who lost a fortune going through this or that upheaval (from revolutions to economic crashes), rather than someone whose grandparents came to an empty country owning only a suitcase, you will not value dynamism and risk in the same way.