Is the American Economy Significantly Different than Europeans Think?

“Do you realize how strange it is that professionals can move around Europe more freely than they can in the U.S.? And that overall, Alabama has more autonomy over its regulations than France does?”

Most Americans assume that despite social and political divisions currently eating at the heart of the country—with perhaps temporary reprieve under a new President—the United States of America can at least rejoice in the fact that it has the most open, free, and productive market economy on the planet. If nothing else unites, at least the economy does.

Even the European Union, a single market project par excellence, began by looking to the United States as a shining example of what a free and open market could look like and then set about emulating it.

And why not? Imagine if the United States had historically allowed each state to act like a separate country as European nations had historically done with their continental diorama of historically warring nations, border guards, regulations, and cultural animosities that hindered trade. Early America had toyed with similar outcomes but overcame them. Today, the United States’ giant, single market is a beacon of what can be achieved economically when united.