Recently, George Osborne asked why it was that, as yet, no Facebook or Google or Apple or YouTube had been launched on this side of the Atlantic.I think it boils down to critical mass. Once a location has reached that point, people everywhere flock to it, creating a hub for certain types of economic activity. This is why Houston is a global center for energy, LA is a global center for entertainment, NYC, London and Frankfurt are centers for finance. Government attempts to create artificial centers of economic activity (other than government centers of power) always fail. There's really nothing a government can do to encourage this other than get out of the way.
He argued that there was something in our business investing culture that made it difficult to back innovative winners in the digital world and that the Government had failed to create the right culture of risk taking in business.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Europe's lack of entrepreneurship
Kamal Ahmed at the UK Telegraph asks a good question:
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9 comments:
This is why Houston is a global center for energy, LA is a global center for entertainment
Europe is the global center for anti-Semitism.
Suck on that, America!
An interesting thought. unfortunately, our current government doesn't seem to gravitate towards the "get out of the way of innovation" school of thought.
Wall Street speculators once again driving up the price of oil:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/3467023
EXECUTE THESE FUGGERS.
But of the innovations mentioned, most came out of a couple of college kids BSing about "wouldn't it be cool if..." and then going out and doing it. Purely a geek culture thing. I guess the US must have several hotspots of geek culture. Europe, not so much.
Or it could be something to do with the following phrase from the article:
"the Government had failed to create the right culture of risk taking in business"
...which is strictly nonsensical, and yet passes for meaningful commentary in Europe. An omnipresent all regulating state cannot do the above, and yet the premise of the phrase is that it can do that particular thing but just happens to fail to, as things currently are.
I don't know -government was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Silicon Valley (military technology, public universities etc.) The trick is figuring out when it's time for government to step away. Government does have a role to play but European govt's just tend to go too far
Free markets create...all a government can do is get in the way. So less government = more creative activity.
"the Government had failed to create the right culture of risk taking in business"
There is a kernel of truth to this. The social democratic welfare states of Europe, in their attempt to be fair for every one, discourage innovation and risk taking. Why bother risking becoming an wealthy entrepreneur when the government will take most of it away in taxes? Why take a risk when you can live a comfortable life on the dole?
I don't know -government was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Silicon Valley (military technology, public universities etc.) The trick is figuring out when it's time for government to step away. Government does have a role to play but European govt's just tend to go too far
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