As an American living in Germany for the past decade, I've seen time and time again that Germans are much more difficult to persuade to donate any amount of money anywhere than Americans are. I suspect this is due to 1) the high tax rate here and 2) the general notion that this is government's job to solve.
I'm very interested in working on YIMBYism in Berlin/Germany - I just have to find the time!
My one hope here is that Germans/French who work for frontier companies want to spend more on European policy.
Also, do you know others who might be interested in doing Berlin YIMBY stuff? It's insane that there is basically no work on this—googling YIMBY Berlin just shows this and Dominik Hermle's piece.
The level of taken-for-granted statist thinking in France can be amusing to an American. Years ago I hosted Bernard Henri-Levy for an afternoon when he was visiting Dallas. He could not get his head around the fact that my employer, Southern Methodist University, didn't inquire about my personal religion or the fact that it was a private and secular research and teaching institution without a government charter per se. (He also had an unseemly fascination with gun shows and the availability of historic Nazi paraphernalia for private purchase.)
The UK also has little private funding going to think tanks and research bodies. Very few UK business schools have received any private funding; almost all US Business Schools have a major donor. It could be that compared to the US, in Europe and the UK, the State has played a much larger role in education and other areas. Rich individuals view these activities as something the state funds and so there is no "culture" of private donations.Fir example, as compared to the US, the number of private Universities is miniscule in both the Europe and the UK.
As an American living in Germany for the past decade, I've seen time and time again that Germans are much more difficult to persuade to donate any amount of money anywhere than Americans are. I suspect this is due to 1) the high tax rate here and 2) the general notion that this is government's job to solve.
I'm very interested in working on YIMBYism in Berlin/Germany - I just have to find the time!
My one hope here is that Germans/French who work for frontier companies want to spend more on European policy.
Also, do you know others who might be interested in doing Berlin YIMBY stuff? It's insane that there is basically no work on this—googling YIMBY Berlin just shows this and Dominik Hermle's piece.
Even though there are very cool projects that should have *someone* singing their praises. See this tower: https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2025/09/berlin-tempelhofer-feld-bebauung-12-wohntuerme-idee-stararchitekt.html
It's the same across Europe, yes due to high taxes that are supposed to cover these things, but also innate frugality.
While writing my Substack article on the Berlin housing market, I discovered that there is at least a YIMBY movement emerging in Germany/Berlin.
The level of taken-for-granted statist thinking in France can be amusing to an American. Years ago I hosted Bernard Henri-Levy for an afternoon when he was visiting Dallas. He could not get his head around the fact that my employer, Southern Methodist University, didn't inquire about my personal religion or the fact that it was a private and secular research and teaching institution without a government charter per se. (He also had an unseemly fascination with gun shows and the availability of historic Nazi paraphernalia for private purchase.)
How much of that "donation gap" could be explained by thinly-veiled lobbying spend and tax evasion?
So, why are European elites uninterested in policy? Are they happy with existing policy?
The UK also has little private funding going to think tanks and research bodies. Very few UK business schools have received any private funding; almost all US Business Schools have a major donor. It could be that compared to the US, in Europe and the UK, the State has played a much larger role in education and other areas. Rich individuals view these activities as something the state funds and so there is no "culture" of private donations.Fir example, as compared to the US, the number of private Universities is miniscule in both the Europe and the UK.