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Europe has the single market, and lots of English speakers. But it also has very conservative capital and tax and employment systems that make entrepreneurship

by wbl 6y ago

Europe has the single market, and lots of English speakers. But it also has very conservative capital and tax and employment systems that make entrepreneurship difficult. Some of that is easy to fix, some hard to fix.

joshuaissac 6y ago
Despite the name, the European Single Market is far less unified than that of the US. A company starting out in Europe will have to overcome linguistic, cultural and regulatory barriers in 27 different countries. While American companies still have to deal with regulatory differences across state borders, it is not quite the same as what European start-ups face.
- ls612 6y ago
  The UCC is an unfair state sponsored advantage for the US in trade, according to the European Commission. (/s in case it is necessary)
take_a_breath 6y ago
==But it also has very conservative capital and tax and employment systems that make entrepreneurship difficult.== The rate of new business creation is higher in Europe than the US. I would guess that the US has more venture-backed entrepreneurs, but more businesses are being start by Europeans than Americans. “The net rate of business creation among the EU economies has been over three times faster than in the USA and Canada since the financial crisis, according to research by RSM International, the seventh largest global network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms.” == https://www.businessawardseurope.com/news/item/rate-of-new-business-creation-in-eu-over-three-times-faster-than-in-north-a https://www.businessawardseurope.com/news/item/rate-of-new-b...
- NalNezumi 6y ago
  I haven't fully checked that source but whats the filtering criterion for "new business creation"? I remember someone used to call Sweden an "top innovative country" and when I took a closer look, he based that argument on amount of new business creation (weighted with population) Taking a closer look, it was evident that they didn't sort the business by size, or how long they stayed, revenue or amount of employer. And as a person who lived there I know a lot of people start businesses just to circumvent the high tax rate, very restrictive hiring laws/taxes, and essentially do consulting (freelance) job. This is a symptom of how the society was made: hiring and income are heavily taxed, but not the same can be said for businesses. The claim that the country was innovative based on number of business creation quickly fell apart.
  - take_a_breath 6y ago
    == hiring and income are heavily taxed, but not the same can be said for businesses.== Same is true in the US. We just changed to tax code to make it even more beneficial to be a business over a salaried-employee. Did you apply the same skepticism for the US numbers?
traceroute66 6y ago
> has very conservative capital and tax and employment systems I agree with you to a degree on capital and tax (although there are exceptions within Europe if you take the time to look). However, if you say Europe should be adopting the US employment system, I'll tell you right now that you can stick that where the sun doesn't shine. Sure the European employment model is not perfect, but by god is it a gazillion times better than the Wild West model deployed in the US.

by wbl 6y ago

joshuaissac 6y ago

Despite the name, the European Single Market is far less unified than that of the US. A company starting out in Europe will have to overcome linguistic, cultural and regulatory barriers in 27 different countries. While American companies still have to deal with regulatory differences across state borders, it is not quite the same as what European start-ups face.

ls612 6y ago
The UCC is an unfair state sponsored advantage for the US in trade, according to the European Commission. (/s in case it is necessary)

take_a_breath 6y ago

==But it also has very conservative capital and tax and employment systems that make entrepreneurship difficult.== The rate of new business creation is higher in Europe than the US. I would guess that the US has more venture-backed entrepreneurs, but more businesses are being start by Europeans than Americans. “The net rate of business creation among the EU economies has been over three times faster than in the USA and Canada since the financial crisis, according to research by RSM International, the seventh largest global network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms.” == https://www.businessawardseurope.com/news/item/rate-of-new-business-creation-in-eu-over-three-times-faster-than-in-north-a https://www.businessawardseurope.com/news/item/rate-of-new-b...

NalNezumi 6y ago
I haven't fully checked that source but whats the filtering criterion for "new business creation"? I remember someone used to call Sweden an "top innovative country" and when I took a closer look, he based that argument on amount of new business creation (weighted with population) Taking a closer look, it was evident that they didn't sort the business by size, or how long they stayed, revenue or amount of employer. And as a person who lived there I know a lot of people start businesses just to circumvent the high tax rate, very restrictive hiring laws/taxes, and essentially do consulting (freelance) job. This is a symptom of how the society was made: hiring and income are heavily taxed, but not the same can be said for businesses. The claim that the country was innovative based on number of business creation quickly fell apart.
- take_a_breath 6y ago
  == hiring and income are heavily taxed, but not the same can be said for businesses.== Same is true in the US. We just changed to tax code to make it even more beneficial to be a business over a salaried-employee. Did you apply the same skepticism for the US numbers?

traceroute66 6y ago

> has very conservative capital and tax and employment systems I agree with you to a degree on capital and tax (although there are exceptions within Europe if you take the time to look). However, if you say Europe should be adopting the US employment system, I'll tell you right now that you can stick that where the sun doesn't shine. Sure the European employment model is not perfect, but by god is it a gazillion times better than the Wild West model deployed in the US.