4 ms·
What Ails Europe?
- Jun8 15y agoSimplifying, the "new world order" is all about (i) masses of well-educated people in relevant disciplines, which are mostly technical, (ii) cheap labor, (iii) a cutthroat competitive spirit and a feeling of urgency to "make it" and (iv) financial machinery to fuel and oil (iii) and thereby incentivize (i). Having one of these is good, but having a number is a sure sign of success. Now, it can be argued that US doesn't have (i) and obviously not (ii), so how can it still be on the top? It's world class in (iii), e.g. the Valley and it has the world's most trusted (iv). North Europe, e.g. Krugman's example of Sweden, has (i) in abundant supply. Israel, with the most startups per capita in the world obviously has (iv) and (i). Unfortunately, many European countries lack most and in some cases all of these qualities. They're laid-back, risk averse with little VC machinery. The prevailing culture is one of "intellect" rather than hackery, i.e. tech people are not idolized as, e.g. US or China. I would argue that these attitudes lie at the bottom of the problem of what "ails Europe" rather than the unified currency.