Every major nation in the world, including Canada, wants to mimic the success of American technology behemoths such as Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook. These firms have continued to thrive during the pandemic, and have contributed enormously to the astounding recovery of the stock market since mid-April.
The economic-growth theorist Edmund Phelps summarized the primacy of culture over policy when it comes to innovation: “Attitudes and beliefs were the well-spring of the dynamism of the modern economies. It is mainly a culture protecting and inspiring individuality, imagination, understanding, and self-expression that drives a nation’s indigenous innovation.” The U.S. excels at cultivating more of these characteristics than other country by encouraging competition in free markets...
If you blindly believe the myth (
the wellspring of attitudes and beliefs) that modern economies are designed "by encouraging competition in free markets", then you're likely to miss the irony of the above two snipits from this article...not only from an economic perspective but more importantly from a cultural perspective.
Regarding the America/Canada comparison, I mostly agree. But the Horatio Alger nonsense of American economic exceptionalism is just too naive for my tastes.
You asked.
