Regulations are often touted as the reason why EU can't compete (which is anyways a narrow perspective), but nobody ever considers the fact that the US had such

Regulations are often touted as the reason why EU can't compete (which is anyways a narrow perspective), but nobody ever considers the fact that the US had such a huge early mover advantage thanks to the decades after world war II, during which Europe was busy rebuilding after being bombed to rubbles. Thanks to network effects and compounding growth, being the early mover determines most of later outcomes, IMHO.