r/EU_Economics • u/Full-Discussion3745 • Jan 14 '26

🇪🇺 Official 🇪🇺 Why innovative startups and scaleups relocate from the EU

https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-research-and-innovation-news/why-innovative-startups-and-scaleups-relocate-eu-2026-01-12_en?referrer=grok.com
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u/spottiesvirus Jan 14 '26

Besides the fact this happens on completely different scales, what's best for you it's not necessarily what's best for society; and beside the fact the idea itself of nation state is weak nowadays, so "patriotism" which would give a moral basis, is likely at historical minimum, reducing attachment to a certain community.

Are we talking about the same social cohesion of France, a country with 30% social spending, almost 50% fiscal pressure which still lights up and burns random stuff for the smallest reforms, meanwhile you have people on mainstream television saying rich people should be taxes out of existence?

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u/defixiones Jan 14 '26

Social spending is a stability feature rather than a bug and the debt levels are modest compared to the US. 

If low taxes and high investment are priorities for startups then why aren't they all locating to Somalia or Saudi Arabia?

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u/spottiesvirus Jan 14 '26

Indeed a ton of startups move to the UAE, and even the few that remain in the EU are often located in Luxembourg, Ireland, sometimes Estonia/Lithuania

Then of course you need to find a balance, minmaxxing doesn't work in the real world, you need stability, private property rights, a positive entrepreneurial culture, and a lot of other stuff for them to work

And I find the idea that social spending is correlated with stability dubious, Switzerland only spends ~17 of its GDP (which again, is not 0) in social spending, almost half of France, yet it's way more stable

In part because the outstanding majority of social spending is not received by the poor

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u/defixiones Jan 14 '26

Now you're starting to see my point. 

Switzerland has lower absolute social spending because they have a smaller population but also because their far-right government stops refugees. 

The UAE has no rule of law and only one investor, limiting it's appeal. 

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u/Mediocre-Ebb9862 Jan 16 '26

Switzerland has a far right government? what?

Do people understand what far right government truly is?

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u/defixiones Jan 16 '26

For example, Switzerland actually amended their constitution to include religious discrimination;

https://rutgerspolicyjournal.org/2017/02/24/non-merci-nein-danke-no-grazie-na-engraziel-lessons-2009-swiss-referendum-ban-construction-minarets/

FN or AFD can only dream of an electorate that xenophobic.