Europe loses the spirit of capitalism: India to outshine in 10-20 years

Europe falls behind the United States and China in both economic growth and investments in research and product development. While the United States boasts the largest economy in the world, when adjusted for purchasing power parity, China takes the lead, with the EU following closely behind. Mari Pekonen-Ranta, the director responsible for EU affairs in the financial sector, expresses concern over Europe’s lack of new growth mechanisms, leading to a drain of money and know-how to markets outside of Europe.

Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman of Investor’s board, also echoes these concerns, warning of potential acceleration of protectionism and the emergence of three separate trading areas: the United States, the EU, and China. Antti Ronkainen, a researcher of political economy at the University of Helsinki, predicts that Europe is headed towards being overtaken by India in the next 10-20 years.

The trend of falling behind in terms of patents, university degrees, startups worth over a billion, population growth, and investments in strategic technologies in comparison to China and the United States is concerning to European leaders. Timo Vuori, EK’s director responsible for trade policy, emphasizes the need for Europe to invest in productivity and new technologies in order to remain competitive.

To address these challenges and make Europe more competitive, there is a call for introspection and increased investment in the future. The full discussion on how to improve Europe’s competitiveness can be found in the attached video links.