There are at least two ways of looking at this: one is to compare countries, the other to compare what the same individual would do in different countries. The

There are at least two ways of looking at this: one is to compare countries, the other to compare what the same individual would do in different countries. There are quite a few non-Americans working in the American technology sector. I've worked on teams with 30% American content, the rest coming from around the world. Talking to those people, it's clear that they are taking advantage of the best of both worlds: the large capital accumulations that are available for investment in the US, but with the backup plan of going back home to a sensible social welfare structure if things don't work out. I've been in the same boat: a Canadian who has lived and worked in both the US and Canada. I've taken risks--particularly as a husband and father--that my American colleagues could only take because they were childless and had spouses who worked. Knowing that no matter what happened, my kids would have access to a health-care system that produces significantly better outcomes at significantly lower cost to the public purse than the American mess, was without question an enabler for me. I was very conscious of this in making business decisions, including the decision to go into business (while broke and unemployed in the wake of the dot-com crash, as it happens.) Had I been in the US at the time I would have been scrambling to find a job so my kids would be covered by decent health insurance. Maybe my case is atypical, but some kind of comparison between foreigners living/have lived in the US vs natives might shed some light on this question.