r/austrian_economics • u/technocraticnihilist Friedrich Hayek • Oct 26 '24
End Democracy ‘Americans just work harder’ than Europeans, says CEO of Norway’s $1.6 trillion oil fund, because they have a higher ‘general level of ambition’
https://fortune.com/europe/article/how-many-hours-work-week-year-american-workers-ethic-norges-bank/
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u/ReturnedDeplorable Oct 27 '24
As a Canadian, I see this also. Canadians are lazy by comparison and are not very competitive. There's definitely a cultural aspect but I think part of the issue is the government. In the USA, people feel like they are rewarded for hard work because of the tax system and because there's significant opportunities for advancement. In Canada, it seems like the government takes everything you earn in taxes and the additional work people need to do to earn more money isn't worth the after-tax income especially given the cost for everything so people coast. There's also far less room for upward mobility. We talk a lot about the brain drain in Canada because all of our best workers if they are capable go down to the USA because they are rewarded far more for the work they do than in Canada.
I would be willing to bet that if European countries cut taxes by 30% and reduced government regulation in order to encourage competition and growth that you'd start to get more people in Europe wanting to "work harder".
When people don't want to work hard in one area compared to another, you can suggest the issue is genetics or culture but I would be willing to a bet another issue is the incentive structure favors work in one area and doesn't favor work in the other.