Bernie Sanders Can’t Explain American Innovation

Stanford Economics researcher Sid Gundapaneni (@MacroscopeEcon on X) asked Bernie Sanders a simple question: “What institutional or economic features explain this difference?” between US and European tech innovation. Europe has produced zero of the world’s ten largest frontier tech firms. America dominates.

Bernie’s response was textbook evasion.

Archived tweet

Bernie Sanders is asked why he thinks the US has more successful businesses than Europe. It's clear he has never thought about this, gives a total non-answer and goes back to his stump speech. Excellent question by @MacroscopeEcon https://t.co/pVErVOz2qH

Maxwell Meyer @mualphaxi February 21, 2026

Instead of engaging with the question, Bernie pivoted to European social programs. “In most European countries, all people have health care is a human right. In most European countries, it doesn’t cost $80,000 a year to go to college.” When pressed again on what drives growth, he cited “800,000 people who are homeless” and “60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck.”

He never answered the question. He couldn’t. Because the honest answer would require admitting that European-style redistribution correlates with zero frontier tech companies.

Europe Already Ran Bernie’s Experiment

This isn’t theoretical. We have data.

12 OECD countries had wealth taxes in 1990. Only 4 remain. France lost 42,000 millionaires and €200 billion in assets. The tax didn’t redistribute wealth. It expelled it. When entrepreneurs leave, employment drops 33%, investment drops 22%, and tax payments drop 51%. Deven studies showing modest aggregate effects confirm the firm-level devastation is real. The people Bernie claims to help get hurt worst, as firms that would have employed people go out of business and the best never start.

Europe has the healthcare subsidies Bernie praises. They have the cheap college. They have the strong child care systems he mentioned. And they have produced none of the world’s ten largest tech companies. The correlation isn’t hidden. It’s just inconvenient.

What Actually Creates Innovation

Government-funded research planted the seeds: DARPA built the internet, NIH funded biotech breakthroughs, but entrepreneurs and capital grew them to what they are today, creating millions of jobs and trillions in market value. The Bay Area raised $154 billion in Venture Capital in 2025, more than the next nine startup regions combined. SF startups succeed at 2.5x the rate of startups anywhere else in the world.

Boston educated 21 of the top 50 AI company founders. Harvard. MIT. The best engineering schools on Earth. And every single one moved to San Francisco. Not because SF has better healthcare. Because SF lets founders keep their gains and build at scale.

Bernie is talking about an industry he doesn’t understand. He’s proposing policies Europe already tried and abandoned. And when asked to explain the most basic economic success story of our generation, he pivoted to talking points.

The Non-Answer Is the Answer

Bernie can’t explain American innovation because explaining it would require admitting that incentives matter. That entrepreneurs need to keep their gains. That European-style redistribution killed the golden goose.

France taxed wealth. 42,000 millionaires left. Tax revenue collapsed. That’s not ideology. That’s the experiment.

The question Gundapaneni asked wasn’t unfair. It was devastating. And Bernie’s deflection told you everything you need to know about whether his policies would work here.