America and the Europoorhttps://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/08/america-and-the-europoor.phpIt made news a few weeks ago when someone in the U.K. did a survey, asking Brits where they thought they would rank among U.S. states economically, if they were a state. As I recall, the average response was 7th. In fact, they would rank 51st: Britain is poorer than America’s poorest state, Mississippi.
That got a lot of attention, and Europeans are waking up to the fact that the United States has been leaving them in the dust, economically. Thus, this headline in the Telegraph: “Americans are mocking the ‘Europoor’…and they mean us.”
The article acknowledges the economic facts:
Since the global financial crisis, growth in Europe has trailed the US. Americans are now, on average, 39pc richer than Britons, even after adjusting for local prices.
World Bank data show GDP per person in the US is $90,026 compared to just $64,606 in the UK, adjusting for local prices. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) calculates that the UK is poorer than any US state, including Mississippi.
The Telegraph story is rife with anecdotes, such as this one regarding a couple who moved from the U.S. to Britain:
Instead of working 60 hours a week, they now work 40. They have twice as many weeks’ holiday, and they are not expected to respond to calls while they are away. They have free NHS healthcare. British public transport means they now only need one car, rather than two.
But this came at a price. Pearce’s husband initially took a pay cut of a third. Her own salary halved.
The Telegraph story says that Europeans, to make up for less income, enjoy a superior quality of life. Mostly, that superior quality of life simply consists of working less. To the extent that it involves civilized amenities, it remains to be seen whether a nation that fails to achieve at least average economic growth can long sustain such amenities.
...
Contrary to the Telegraph’s headline, I don’t think many Americans are mocking the “Europoor.” I think nearly all Americans wish the Europeans well and want them to succeed. But in any era of human history–neolithic, ancient, medieval, early modern, modern–if you want to succeed, you have to compete. The U.K., and Europeans in general, need to cut taxes, reduce regulations, encourage entrepreneurship and incentivize work if they want to continue to be relevant and to protect what they consider a high quality of life.
As this article illustrates, comparing the US to a Western European country economically requires comparing the complex set of trade-offs each country has made. As a scarcastic "example", Euros may have better vacation benefits, but they are taxed for other things to such a degree that Euros' ability to enjoy their vacations ("holidays", in Brit-Speak) is economically constrained.
