Why Is Europe Always Lagging Behind the US?

The US has had a much greater level of growth than the EU in the past decade despite the pandemic and Europe having a large collection of advanced economies with highly educated populations. Why is Europe always lagging behind?

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[CMVBrielman]

You left out a lot of other factors:
- Europe’s population is declining or stagnant, and is aging more quickly than the US’s. Meaning a smaller portion of a declining population can contribute to the economy.
- Europe’s economic relationship with Russia, a country with whom it is currently fighting an economic war. When European economies need petrochemicals, they currently have to pay through the nose, while much of that money goes to… the US.
- Europe’s geography is good, but not quite as good as the US’s. One major unified river system, no external threats, direct access to two major oceans.

[Ztv]

Being born in the EU, the USA, or AU means we've won the birth lottery. Our lives are so drastically better than the average human it's hard to fathom. Being in the top 1% is pretty sweet. (making $34k a year puts you in the top 1% globally)

[Sebastian]

I believe Germany could really be ahead in a few industries if they relaxed their bureaucracy and heavy taxation system. German companies have started to leave the country and moved to Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, etc. The irony is that at least 2 of the countries I've mentioned have better social programs than Germany BUT their taxation laws are relaxed for start ups and new companies so they can grow before they can be a real contribution to the economy. Germany basically encourages companies to leave and demotivates new smaller businesses.

[Alan-lvrw]

The U.S. has been paying for Europe’s defense for 80 years. It would have been nice to have that money invested in America.

[-DC-]

Not lagging in Vacation Time, Europe 💪

[kortanioslastofhisname]

1. Europe and the European Union are not the same thing. This channel had a chronic tendency to use them interchangeably.
2. The EU is relatively poor in natural resources (and always has been).
3. Europe has a lot of medium-sized market leaders in very specific areas. The German Mittelstand is the most extreme example of this, but it's something you find across Central, Northern and some of Western Europe.
4. EU countries prioritise differently to the US. Workers' protections, health insurance, fair wages, work-life balance, environmental protection etc. are much more important than in the US where, after decades of union-busting and deregulation, workers are seen more as a commodity (relatively speaking, in a comparison between developed democracies and ignoring the absolute travesty of a workers' rights situation you find in developing authoritarian countries e.g. 996 or similar "working cultures").

[francoiscoetzer]

Europe is leading the US in:
1. Quality of life
2. Education
3. Healthcare
4. Family unity
5. Not forcing immoral gender agendas.

Thus, the question is, will the US ever catch up?

[wyckedsyndicate]

really great that you mentioned a previous video that covered the same or similar topics while crediting them, as a new-ish viewer I wanted to tell you I admire that practice a lot

[ethribin]

Europ is not The head leader for 2 reasons.
1) we're ununified. Europe is not one nation. And while that comes with advantages, it also comes with drawbacks that mainly express themselves as economic inefficiencies. Thats why the EU is so important for Europe.
2) We're holding back. Europe is at the forefront of living standarts, worker protection and nature protection. All these things come at the cost of economic output.

[graceocean]

Inflation hits people a lot harder than a crashing stock or housing market as it directly affects people's cost of living that people immediately feel the impact of. It's not surprising negative market sentiment is so high now. We really need help to survive in this Economy. The ETF/Equity market keeps swinging.

[One.Zero.One]

I think the lack of tech companies is the biggest factor. Tech is the easiest way to sell a global product in today's world. Video games, productivity software, apps, cellphones, routers, antennas. Europe has stalled in tech behind America and Asia. 📌

[Lotterboy]

The most obvious factor is the sheer difference in size of 'addressable market' - Europe with its many languages, cultures and legal systems is far more difficult to address all at once in comparison to the US or China.

[breabanm]

Hello, I live in Germany.
Generally I am pessimistic about the future of the European Union over the long term, precisely because of the one aspect not mentioned in the video: aging and slowly dwindling population.
There is also a lot of ideological decision making both in Germany and in the European Parliament, while the Americans are a bit more pragmatic in my view. One example of this is Germany phasing out nuclear power this year before phasing out coal power in the 2030s. In the interim, at times of peak electricity demand, Germany will fire up more coal plants and import nuclear power from France, which obviously will increase the output of CO2 at a time when it should be going drastically down. The last two nuclear power plants to be taken off the grid this year were not even at the end of their useful life. If this is not plainly stupid, I don't know what is.

[sergeymelkumov]

Sweden alone produced more international brands and global corporations than most US states, not to mention France, Germany, the UK, Netherlands, etc. Europe is doing just fine when it comes to every single metric I care about. What you call stagnant I call stable, what soon will become circular. The only stagnation I can see is happening inside the heads of mainstream economists, they still think in obsolete ideas and absolutely refuse to change their rigid thinking.

[secondengineer]

Notably, productivity is also based on how wealthy a country is. A cashier working in the Bay Area is somehow a lot more productive than a cashier working in a developing country

[Lemonz]

I think languages and legal systems will always be one of most difficult things to navigate in Europe, and is one of the largest disadvantages Europe has over the US.

I’m trilingual, with English being my 3rd language, simply because I was forced to study 3 languages by law, as a necessity to function in an international world.
I think Americans often underestimate just how difficult and expensive these things can be to navigate for a company.

There are over 100 native European languages (probably closer to 150), and between 40% and 50% of Europeans are monolinguals, so it’s not as simple as “just” speaking English. And not all multilingual Europeans speak English either.

[butters]

US has states, Europe has countries... ALOT of countries. I always observed that as difficult to work with.

[Ves]

What wasn't mentioned in this video is the distribution of income and privatisation. I'm curious how like the lower 80% income earners of both regions compare. Also the US has a much higher level of privatisation than the EU, which usually leads to higher nominal output but decreases the qualitiy of services for most people but the wealthiest. Therefore i would be very interested in a video that compares the standard of living in the EU (which differs in itself vastly from country to country adimittedly) to USA for the average citizen including access to services like education, healthcare ec.
It would also be interesting how the wages of the lower 80% have developed over time in each region.We shouldn't forget as well that the EU has grown a lot over the last 20 years in terms of new member states and new countries often had a very low standard of living to begin with but are growing rapidly since they joined.

[DungNgo-zijg]

Europeans are paid less but they are not as underpaid relatively compared to the US. I was in the US working as a salesman and they made sure to squeeze as much as possible out of me. Days off are only 2-3 days during Christmas. The office does not hit quota, Sundays we have to go in (we work Mon to Sat already).

Money is not the only metric.

[MatsueMusic]

Lagging behind economically maybe but not in terms of human rights, regulation, quality of life, and pretty much everything else that matters. This is almost the definition of money isn’t everything.