Elevators show U.S. needs a lift to catch up with EU

The European Union has spent 60 years tearing down commercial and
migration barriers between its member countries: and yet the flow of
people and goods and services between California and Texas, is still
much larger than between Germany and France. Rather than that being a
sign of failure, this week’s guests — Matthias Matthijs and Craig
Parsons — say the opposite is true. They argue the EU has removed
regulatory barriers but failed to tear down cultural ones: leaving the
continent with an underused single market. Americans are enthusiastic
about working, buying and selling across state lines: but they do it
despite pointless barriers — from local standards for elevators to
different state hairdresser licensing rules. The payoff from U.S. state
and federal governments doing some EU-style market reforms could be
huge.  

The European Union has spent 60 years tearing down commercial and migration barriers between its member countries: and yet the flow of people and goods and services between California and Texas, is still much larger than between Germany and France. Rather than that being a sign of failure, this week’s guests — Matthias Matthijs and Craig Parsons — say the opposite is true. They argue the EU has removed regulatory barriers but failed to tear down cultural ones: leaving the continent with an underused single market. Americans are enthusiastic about working, buying and selling across state lines: but they do it despite pointless barriers — from local standards for elevators to different state hairdresser licensing rules. The payoff from U.S. state and federal governments doing some EU-style market reforms could be huge.