Capitalism was born in Europe. But for nearly half a century, its most vigorous offshoots have flourished in the United States and Japan, while our economic performance has been lackluster. Or so the familiar litany goes. Despite our venerable commercial achievements—and the great European thinkers who defined the very institutions of capitalism—the continent that dominated world events for thousands of years seems to have fallen irretrievably behind.
A version of this article appeared in the July–August 1992 issue of Harvard Business Review.