Be Like Europe? No Thanks!

For those of you who look to Europe and long for the United States to be like them (including their socialized medicine), take note.

From Investors Business Daily:

Europeans once thought they had a better way — a 'third way' between socialism and capitalism — that would deliver both income equality and economic growth. But in reality, the third way delivers neither — and now Europe faces a massive, long-term problem of catching up to the U.S.

This isn't just our opinion. It's the basic conclusion of a study by Eurochambres, a continentwide business think tank. It concludes that the European Union is roughly 20 years behind the U.S. in economic development. Twenty years.

It's interesting to see something I used to say when I lived in England now come out in print from an official study. I used to observe British technological innovation, culture and societal infrastructure and often remarked, "They're about 20 years behind the States."

According to the Eurochambres report, the U.S. reached Europe's current level of economic development — as measured by GDP per person —back in 1985, a 21-year deficit. Europe also lags behind in a number of other measures, including productivity (17 years), employment and R&D (28 years), and Internet use (four years).

So why the difference?

Why the difference? The U.S. has smaller government, less regulation and much higher productivity. It also has what Nobel Prize-winning economist Edmund Phelps recently called "dynamism" — a culture of entrepreneurialism that doesn't exist in Europe.

You can essentially boil that paragraph down to one word: socialism. It destroys the will of people to exercise responsibility, frugality, initiative, or effort above and beyond the minimum necessary.

Hat tip to the folks at the National Center for Policy Analysis.