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It has been pointed out (I forget where) that part of the reason the US works as a monetary union is that people are not very attached to where they live. When

It has been pointed out (I forget where) that part of the reason the US works as a monetary union is that people are not very attached to where they live. When one area of the country becomes much more successful than another, many people are often willing to move, which acts as a countervailing force to regional productivity differences. One of the problems with the EU is that Germans like to live in Germany and Greeks like to live in Greece.

JumpCrisscross 8y ago
> part of the reason the US works as a monetary union is that people are not very attached to where they live More significant is our fiscal union. My taxes in New York and California support Mississippi and Iowa. (Politically, this requires the citizens of a country to see themselves as one.) The EU missed, in the last crisis, an opportunity to form a banking and preliminary fiscal union.
ajmurmann 8y ago
Funny enough mobility across state lines is down 50% in the US as well (http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/05/tyler_cowen_on_1.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/05/tyler_cowen_on_1.ht...) Edit: formatting
user5994461 8y ago
The US is a single country with a single language, a single culture and a single currency. It's not comparable to the many countries within Europe.
- repolfx 8y ago
  Sort of but not really, right? America has a large population of Spanish speakers and go to many cities and you'll find official signage and documents written in Chinese and other languages. Single culture, well, compare people living in the deep south and Manhattan, what they value and enjoy. Beyond sports do they have a lot in common? That said I agree Europe is much less homogenous.
  - kazen44 8y ago
    Also, europeans usually have a far stronger heritage to the places they where born and raised. Mainly because of historical reasons. in some countries, local variations in culture is incredibly dense. for instance, Dutch dialect is different between villages which are only around 10 kilometer apart.
  - user5994461 8y ago
    >>> Beyond sports do they have a lot in common? They speak the same language, they go to the same shops, they watch the same tv shows and tv channels, they have a common healthcare and education system, they are governed by the same president, they share a similar history that they learn in the same schools.

JumpCrisscross 8y ago

> part of the reason the US works as a monetary union is that people are not very attached to where they live More significant is our fiscal union. My taxes in New York and California support Mississippi and Iowa. (Politically, this requires the citizens of a country to see themselves as one.) The EU missed, in the last crisis, an opportunity to form a banking and preliminary fiscal union.

ajmurmann 8y ago

Funny enough mobility across state lines is down 50% in the US as well (http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/05/tyler_cowen_on_1.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/05/tyler_cowen_on_1.ht...) Edit: formatting

user5994461 8y ago

The US is a single country with a single language, a single culture and a single currency. It's not comparable to the many countries within Europe.

repolfx 8y ago
Sort of but not really, right? America has a large population of Spanish speakers and go to many cities and you'll find official signage and documents written in Chinese and other languages. Single culture, well, compare people living in the deep south and Manhattan, what they value and enjoy. Beyond sports do they have a lot in common? That said I agree Europe is much less homogenous.
- kazen44 8y ago
  Also, europeans usually have a far stronger heritage to the places they where born and raised. Mainly because of historical reasons. in some countries, local variations in culture is incredibly dense. for instance, Dutch dialect is different between villages which are only around 10 kilometer apart.
- user5994461 8y ago
  >>> Beyond sports do they have a lot in common? They speak the same language, they go to the same shops, they watch the same tv shows and tv channels, they have a common healthcare and education system, they are governed by the same president, they share a similar history that they learn in the same schools.