

What Ails Europe? - Jun8
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/opinion/krugman-what-ails-europe.html?hp

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Jun8
Simplifying, 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.

