Rory Sutherland has narrated this article for you to listen to.
The legendary music producer Rick Rubin once asked me why I had never moved to the United States. The answer, I think, comes down to an important trade-off: quantity of earnings vs quality of consumption.
Historically, once you had a job, there was a limit to the lifestyle choices you could make
Whereas the United States is certainly a better place to earn and accumulate money, Europe is, on balance, still a better place to spend it. (Which may explain why Rick asked me that question at his summer home in Italy.)
This imbalance partly arises from a fundamental asymmetry in the transmission of ideas. Whenever anything good or interesting arises in the New World – freedom of religion, Breaking Bad, drive-through KFCs, nachos, Amazon, stem-cell therapy or cupholders – these things rapidly make their way eastwards across the Atlantic.
Yet the same process does not happen in reverse.
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