US vs. Europe (Living Standards and economic growth)

Many people think that if the US followed Europe’s lead in pursuing socialist policies, we would be much richer and everyone would be far happier. However, this is not the case. Here are some facts taken from an article by Economist Dan Mitchell:

-Since the US has historically had more economic freedom than Europe, we are much richer than they are.

--“Living standards in the EU are equivalent to living standards in the poorest American states-roughly equal to Arkansas and Montana and only slightly ahead of West Virginia and Mississippi, the two poorest states” [1]

--“Per capita economic output in the U.S. in 2003 was $37,600-more than 40 percent higher than the $26,600 average for EU-15 nations.” [1]

--“Real economic growth in the U.S. over the past 10 years (3.2 percent average annual growth) has been more than 50 percent faster than EU-15 growth during the same period (2.1 percent).” [1]

--“The U.S. unemployment rate is significantly lower than the EU-15 unemployment rate, and there is a stunning gap in the percentage of unemployed who have been without a job for more than 12 months-11.8 percent in the U.S. versus 41.9 percent in EU-15 nations” [1]

Not that living in a European country is bad, but to say that Europeans have better lives than Americans isn't exactly true.

Citation:

[1] http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2005/03/the-impact-of-government-spending-on-economic-growth