" (Bawer, 2005) Thus, culture and a higher cost of going out both come into play. Europeans have more health care and social services than Americans, but they still also pay more in taxes. True, they have better public transportation as well -- but gasoline (in this oil-exporting nation) costs more than $6 a gallon. Bawer's greatest complaint was his lack of ability to have an exciting nightlife at a decent cost, something he said that was easier in supposedly poorer Spain. But this highlights how European nations still differ in terms of what they value, either wine with friends, or a more frugal and 'saving' standard of living. However, Bawer was correct in the sense that culture and cost may fuse, when comparing Europe as a whole to other nations, as while the private-consumption figure for the United States was $32,900 per person, the countries of Western Europe (again excepting Luxembourg, at $29,450) ranged between $13,850 and $23,500, with Norway at $18,350. (Bawer, 2005)

Still, Bawer's challenge to the notion that Norway is 'rich' also belies American notions of what makes a nation rich that might not be accepted by the new Euroconsumers. Bawer mocks the notion that "received wisdom about economic life in the Nordic countries is easily summed up: people here are incomparably affluent, with all their needs met by an efficient welfare state," but this could indeed be the new Euroconsumer of the future -- more frugal in his or her use of gas, and more willing to endure higher levels of taxation than his or her American counterparts, as well as the indignities of older cars and packed lunches in exchange for nationalized health care and subsidized child support. (Bawer, 2005) Even if Americans do not see themselves as such, Norwegians often believe, "the Scandinavian establishment" when it paints a picture of the United States "as a nation divided, inequitably, among robber barons...

(Bawer, 2005)
Why do Norwegians have such a wealthy self-image asks Bawer? He concedes (and this might be true of many European nations, not just Norway) that, compared with their grandparents, the current generation of Norwegians working today are richer in material terms than the past, older generation. Thus today's European generation feels rich. Over the past 25 years, the "American economy has almost doubled, whereas the E.U. economy has grown by slightly more than half," and the gap may be growing, but the prosperity of today feels like more than what transpired in the past.

What one feels may be more important than what is, even in economic terms. And now, with the EU, consumers can shop at will and whim for better and cheaper goods in a variety of markets. "Every weekend, armies of Norwegians drive to Sweden to stock up at supermarkets that are a bargain only by Norwegian standards," grouses Bawer, and what may prove to be the Euroconsumers of the future.

Works Cited

Bawer, Bruce. (17 Apr 2005) "We're Rich -- you're not, end of story." The New York Times. Sunday Week in Review. Retrived 17 Apr 2005 at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/weekinreview/17bawer.html?

Economist. (9 Jan 2004) "Plenty of crying over spilt milk." Economist Global Agenda. Retrived 17 Apr 2005 at http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2327955

Laroche, Lionel (2004) "The Cultural Differences between the European Union and North America and their Impact on Transatlantic Business." ITAP International. Retrived 17 Apr 2005 at http://www.itapintl.com/culturaldifferenceseuna.htm