Erstellt am: 12. 2. 2010 - 18:50 Uhr
America versus Europe
by Joanna Bostock
Joanna Bostock works as journalist for FM4's Reality Check
We're a mixed bunch of native English speakers here at FM4 and there are often debates between the Brits and the Americans about the relative quality of life in Europe versus the United States. So it was with more than professional interest that I interviewed the author of a book titled "Europe's Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age" .
A fan of Europe
Steven Hill
Steven Hill is a fan of Europe. And he's an American. A political writer and Programme Director at the New American Foundation, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., to be more precise. His usual field of work is political reform in the United States, but he was so impressed by how we run things here in Europe, that he spent ten years shuttling back and forth across the Atlantic to investigate our brand of "social capitalism". In the contest of the U.S. versus Europe and the competition (pun intended) between the free market and the welfare state, Hill reckons Europe comes out on top. He argues that Americans' (generally negative) view of Europe is based on misperceptions and his book is aimed at dispelling the myths. For example, far from "hamstringing" businesses, Europe's supposedly burdensome welfare systems actually boost overall productivity; our American cousins pay less tax but shell out more at the end of the day when you take into account the cost of education, child care, health care and all those services that we get (more or less) for free just for being good taxpayers.
University of California Press
The grass, therefore, is economically greener on this side of the Atlantic. Or is it? There are plenty of commentators who disagree, so the challenge was to find someone with a different point of view. I called Guy Sorman, French economist, philosopher and author of, among other things, "Economics doesn't lie: a Defence of the Free Market in Times of Crisis". You might think that a proponent of limited government and a free market would extol the virtues of the United States over Europe, and had he done so, the symmetry would have been complete. But when I asked him which model he thought was better, he refused to answer.
Two different systems
"I never compare Europe and the United States" Why? "They are two different systems (and) each system must be studied for itself". Different systems based on different sets of values and never the twain shall meet. Trying to compare means you won't understand either system. It's not a matter of which is better, but a question of choice – between an American economic culture based on risk-taking, innovation and individualism, or Europe’s cosy blend of safety, welfare and equality.
- Reality Check is also available as podcast after the show
All that innovation and individualism backs up the idea that the U.S. is indeed the “land of opportunity”. Or is it? Steven Hill believes that in fact it's Europe which has the stronger claim to the title and remarked that “even the Wall Street Journal has reported that if you're born poor in Europe you have a much better chance of reaching a much better life than if you're born poor in the United States." His point is that America can learn a lot from us. Listen to Saturday’s Reality Check (12-1) and make your own decision about which arguments are the most persuasive.