> Well, being the only country left with any manufacturing after a catastrophic world war is one major reason.
This is not the reason. Post WW II Europe was able to rebuild and for a long time they had some of the biggest companies and for a long time EU as a whole was a bigger economy than the US. It's only in the last 2 decades where the US is significantly outpacing the EU. And there are no signs of slow down.
WW II can not be the reason EU has few big tech companies. (relatively compared to the US, few exceptions always exist)
They were able to rebuild… because the US funded it.
The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent.
That’s about $187B in 2022 dollars. In addition to technology and trade.
… followed shortly after Breton Woods, which secured trade for the rest of the world in exchange for not joining up with the Soviets.
I think it's just luck. In terms of big tech most of the US is like Europe. It's only silicon valley that has this type of innovation.
But the innovation has been around a singular avenue of software. It is a mistake to think that software is the most important driver of economic growth.
This is not the reason. Post WW II Europe was able to rebuild and for a long time they had some of the biggest companies and for a long time EU as a whole was a bigger economy than the US. It's only in the last 2 decades where the US is significantly outpacing the EU. And there are no signs of slow down.
WW II can not be the reason EU has few big tech companies. (relatively compared to the US, few exceptions always exist)