[scarejunba]

Is this evidence-based? I have believed this for a long time but it's from first principles (being able to experiment safely leads to more experiments) but I've noticed that European society is more conservative and prefers not to experiment despite having better welfare systems.

I wonder now whether proportionality is key. Whether the people who will experiment are precisely those who would prefer to make a metric ton for themselves by experimenting and aren't worried about the downside.

FWIW I have lived in Europe, America, and Asia. I like to think I'm fairly neutral.

[watwut]

It a bit depends also on "experiment in what?" and what are other cultural values that interact with it.

VC startup/entrepreneur culture does not punish failure all that much and people experiment a lot of time. There are people who get money after failure and after another failure and again. If you fail, then unless you went into dept you can find job somewhere.

The social system is only one factor in play.

[marcinzm]

I'm not overly familiar but as I understand it that welfare system goes deeper than just providing a financial safety net. To ensure workers aren't unfairly fired it's harder to fire workers. Workers also have a harder time leaving a job (long notice periods). All that makes experimentation more difficult.