In February, in response to Pieter Garicano’s ‘Why Europe doesn’t have a Tesla’, I wrote:
Most Europeans will still prefer to live in the EU, even if growth is slower for the next 10 years, if it means being able to have better living conditions, and less fallout from having to sustain a billionaire class.
Today, per Euronews: A new way to measure poverty shows the US is falling behind Europe
As of 2025, the time needed to earn $1 is 63 minutes in the US. This is about twice the average across Germany, France and the UK.
In Germany, Europe’s largest economy, it takes 26 minutes. In France, the figure is 31 minutes, while in the UK it rises slightly to 34 minutes.
These figures suggest that average poverty in the US is about twice that of these three countries.
(…)
“How can a rich country’s economy grow and yet become poorer?” [Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford Oliver] Sterck asks, referring to the US in his article for The Conversation.
His answer is simple: inequality.
I ask again: Why should Europe have a Tesla?