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Notes -
As an example of the principles leading to heavy regulation in the EU, see the precautionary principle, which is a major idea in EU law but almost alien to the US or China:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle
The classic American principle is "innovate and break stuff, with regulators acting if you break something serious." The precautionary principle, in the extreme, is "we do not need to know that you are breaking stuff to stop you from innovating." Or, as Stewart Brand put it:
"When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public [meaning the regulators, not the public in the sense of the people in general], should bear the burden of proof."
The EU regulators and lawmakers have decided that this principle is worth the price of being a tech industry backwater.
In general, a secular gap has developed between the EU economy and the US economy since the mid-1990s:
https://statisticstimes.com/economy/united-states-vs-eu-economy.php
Per capita, the gap has always been big, but it's become really big, especially in nominal terms, where the EU has been stagnant since about 2008.
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