alt Hacker NewsJapan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the US all share comparable living standards to Western European states yet are able to maintain and expand semiconductor manufacturing.
The issue is with policymaking - coordination between the EU, national, and local governments is weak so high capex projects become risky.
Edit: can't reply
> Your first 3 countries are also incredibly poor comparisons for living standards as they have horrendous work/life balance.
Their hours worked are comparable to most Western European states as well now [0]. Germany is unique in Europe based on hours worked, and is why German industry is pushing to bring back the 40 hour work week.
[0] - https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/hours-worked.html
Replies
> comparable living standards
So vague as to be utterly meaningless.
And slow moving regulation literally incentivises high capex long-horizon investment.
So now we're suddenly talking about living standards and not environmental regulation?
Your first 3 countries are also incredibly poor comparisons for living standards as they have horrendous work/life balance.