7 ways the US is beating Europe

BRUSSELS ― The United States and the European Union have faced similar challenges over the past couple of decades, with the financial crash and the Covid pandemic wreaking economic havoc, taking years to recover from.
But of the two, it’s America that has found a way to surge ahead. When it comes to things that create wealth — science, innovation, even a higher birthrate — the U.S. is ahead by most metrics.
The EU is trying to change that. It hired the former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi to deliver a report into all that was wrong and everything that needs to be done about it. A year and 400 pages later, the verdict was clear: The gap between the EU and U.S. is only growing. Drastic measures are called for.
We didn’t need him to tell us that. The numbers speak for themselves. Sure, Europe’s cities are unmatched, its architecture gorgeous, food and wine delicious ― and who doesn’t like taking all of August off the way many Europeans do? To say nothing of universal health care. But the economics don’t look good. POLITICO took a closer look at the numbers.
Setting clichés about money and happiness aside, Americans are, on average, richer than Europeans. That’s been true for a long time, but the worrying thing for the EU is that the gap is getting wider. In 1990, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was 16 percent higher than the eurozone’s. By 2023, the difference had doubled, to more than 30 percent. 
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