this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
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The European Union’s remarkable growth performance relative to the United States (www.bruegel.org)
submitted 10 months ago by Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de to c/europe@feddit.de
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The article chooses to take a metric that you usually do not see much: GDP per employee and per hours worked, at purchasing power standards

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[–] maynarkh@feddit.nl 26 points 10 months ago (21 children)

The European Union suffers from numerous weaknesses compared to the United States, including the lack of European tech giants

I for one do not mind that the EU legal environment does not lend itself easily to forming megacorporations. There is a lot of great innovation coming from the EU. The development of Lemmy is for example funded by the EU public sector.

On the topic of the article, I wonder how much of our economy is still restrained by still existing protectionism and division between member states. There is free trade, yes, but we still speak different languages and moving to work between countries is still not as easy as moving between US states.

[–] Nerd02@lemmy.basedcount.com 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

I don't think the language barrier is that big of a deal. And more importantly I think the cultural value it provides us vastly outweights the economic benefit of a shared tongue.

I think one of the more urgent reforms that could help the EU prosper would be a common fiscal policy. We have the same tarifs on goods coming from abroad and most of us share the same currency, but countries are still offering varying tax rates. I think having an EU wide tax policy would help spreading the European branches of foreign companies more evenly. Though I reckon not everyone would like this (wink wink, Ireland).

EDIT: oh and also. I agree with your overall point, but using Lemmy as an example for "great innovation coming from the EU"... KEKW

[–] Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I think one of the more urgent reforms that could help the EU prosper would be a common fiscal policy. We have the same tarifs on goods coming from abroad and most of us share the same currency, but countries are still offering varying tax rates. I think having an EU wide tax policy would help spreading the European branches of foreign companies more evenly. Though I reckon not everyone would like this (wink wink, Ireland).

It's interesting because every US state has a different fiscal policy (Delaware being the well-known tax heaven for companies for instance), and it doesn't seem to hinder them too much.

[–] Nerd02@lemmy.basedcount.com 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh do they? Never heard about that. Guess I've learnt something new. I wonder if it would be different for us, given how fewer big companies the EU has compared to the US.

I'm not familiar with the Delaware situation. Is it similar to Ireland's, then?

Foreign-owned multinationals continue to contribute significantly to Ireland's economy, making up 14 of the top 20 Irish firms (by turnover), employing 23% of the private sector labour-force, and paying 80% of the collected corporation tax.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland

[–] Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 10 months ago

Oh do they? Never heard about that. Guess I’ve learnt something new. I wonder if it would be different for us, given how fewer big companies the EU has compared to the US.

Yes, for instance their equivalent of VAT is state-based, some of them having 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States

Delaware is indeed kind of similar to Ireland: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/092515/4-reasons-why-delaware-considered-tax-shelter.asp

Both are listed as tax heavens on that page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_haven#Lists

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