European impressions...

Countries can spend their wealth differently in providing services and welfare to their citizens. As a result people in different countries can lead different lifestyles. This becomes obvious even through an impressionistic comparison of Europe and the US. This sort of knowledge, which is also apparent when comparing different developing countries, could provide important lessons during the constitution making process as the Constituent Assembly sets priorities on spending Nepal’s resources.  

From the last week of September till the third week of October I travelled around Europe in what may be called a five-country lecture and leisure trip. For a person who has been living in the US for more than a decade as a student and teacher, the European voyage clearly cast an impression that wealth can be spent in better ways for the wellbeing of citizens. 

It is well known that public transportation is better in Europe than the private vehicle dependent US.  Nevertheless, I was impressed at the vast network of underground and over ground trains, buses and trams that connected not only different parts of large cities but also smaller cities and small towns with big cities. Even small cities like Bielefeld in Germany had a very impressive network of public transportation while except for a few big cities like New York and Chicago, public transportation is pathetic in most of US. The public transportation could be costly for occasional travellers but for regular commuters, weekly, monthly and other passes lower the costs.  Early planning also made travelling affordable.  It took less than 10 pounds for a five-hour bus ride from North England to London when the ticket was purchased online a week or two before.  Among other things, the vast network of public transportation meant less driving of personal vehicles and less consumption of natural energy.         

In some cities like Vienna and Copenhagen, even automated ticket checking gates were absent.  It was all based on trust and the people followed the rules voluntarily. They paid for their travel even though travel tickets were not checked regularly.  Of course, if caught without a ticket on occasional checking, the penalty would be very heavy.  Still it amazed me that the system worked largely based on trust and cooperation of the commuters.

I was impressed by the bicycle hiring system when my friends proudly showed it to me in Paris. One could hire a bike from an automated stand, ride it to different destinations and leave the bikes back at the stands. Why spend money on expensive cab rides when you can travel cheaply and also get some exercise while commuting? 

What amazed me even more was the bicycle culture in Copenhagen.  The parking lot in train, bus and other stations were filled with hundreds of bicycles. The buses and trains had cycle stands inside. You never see such sights in the US.

Pedestrian streets were also quite widespread and covered considerable areas.  The biweekly haatbazzer in Bielefeld, like in rural Nepal, was a welcome surprise for a native Nepali living in the US.  The pedestrian roads were wide and street-side cafes indicated that people walked quite a bit and enjoyed their time in such joints. Life appeared to be slow and much enjoyable in Europe.   

Higher education in Austria was free and it was so for some social science disciplines in France as well.  Denmark had introduced expensive tuitions for higher education for foreigners recently when the system was abused by some.  In Scotland, the regional government subsidised higher education for its residents to make it more affordable while in England income of parents determined if one had to pay tuition. All this is truly astonishing for someone teaching in an American university where the tuition is extremely expensive and many American students remain in educational debt for a long time after graduation.

Of course, for a traveller, Europe is quite expensive. A McDonald’s meal costs more than double in a Copenhagen train station than in the US. Services do not come cheaply and higher taxes are necessary to provide them. That in turn has contributed to higher prices. PG Ranjitkar, a Copenhagen resident, told me that tax rate in Denmark was 55 percent. Most Americans would be surprised that people pay such high taxes and still do not throw out the government.  Services and welfare deficient Americans rise up in arms even at the prospect of rising taxes to around 30 percent.  

High prices are to some extent covered by high wages. Minimum wage in Denmark was very high and even after tax, the worker would get around US $16 per hour, which is three times higher than in most cities in the US.  Such wages make the expensive goods and services affordable to citizens; maybe not so for visiting Americans on lower wages. Berlin had a slightly different culture with ubiquitous food stands offering reasonably cheaper food.  Many of these stands appeared to be operated by immigrants or their descendents.  

The walking, biking, public transportation and pedestrian culture have contributed to the health of Europeans.  One of the first things that struck me in Paris was the absence of obese people. The extensive welfare system in Europe must have contributed to it as well. In the US low income or jobless people frequent junk food vendors like McDonald’s which are contributing to the fattening up trend, which increases health expenses; healthy people probably means less drain on the overall health system in Europe. The overall impression of the excursion was that different set of priorities in Europe (as compared to the US) had resulted in a higher quality of life in the continent. 

It is not that only rich countries have options. Developing countries can spend available resources differently to provide different level of welfare to their citizens. Countries like Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Costa Rica and regions like Kerala in India have provided wide range of services to their residents that have resulted in much better human development indices (resource, education, and life span) than economically comparable countries. As Nepal moves ahead in its constitution writing process, its political leaders and policymakers can set priorities that would result in a better quality of life for its citizens instead of increasing the gap among them. The choice is theirs.