America Is the Best Place to Get Rich, Europe Is Best to Be Rich

America remains the best country in the world to get rich. Some see this as cause for celebration, while others view it as evidence of a broken capitalist system. As an economist, I am less interested in debating whether billionaires (or trillionaires) should exist than in asking what the alternative is. One of those alternatives is Europe, where the system ensures that the richest are not too rich — and that their wealth is inherited rather than earned.