European and American capitalism were different.  The violence of human clashes in America took place on the surface, in the open.  The violence in Europe became formalized, coalesced with class divions hallowed by centuries; it was interiorized, ingrained, or baked in, if one may use such an expression.  American capitalism was founded on daring, resourcefulness, largesse, waste; European capitalism was founded on one powerful passion — miserliness.  These patterns, which still endure, explain why America succeeded in creating a vast, new sector of the economy adapted to needs that become increasingly evident the closer we come to the twenty-first century: the sector of the universities, research institutes, laboratories, with billions of dollars invested in them.  Western Europe, where education always has been the preserve of a narrow elite, failed to produce anything like it.  The prodigality of private capital in America made the beginnings possible; money from taxes joined in at the next stage.  Miserliness with capital in Europe effectively prevented the laying of foundations for this new sector, and it is doubtful whether the government treasuries will ever be able to over come ever-widening gap.

That is from Czeslaw Milosz’s Visions from San Francisco Bay.