In this World Economic Forum article, authors Terence Tse from the London Campus of ESCP Europe Business School, Mark Esposito from Harvard University and Danny Goh, a self-described serial entrepreneur, argue that the key to improving Europe’s standard of living is to foster entrepreneurship. To do so, the structure of education and restrictive labor laws must be changed. And investment in entrepreneurial startups must remove the risk of debt. 
For the first time in human history, younger people are now enjoying a lower standard of living than their parents.

According to a recent study, for the first time in human history, younger people are now enjoying a lower standard of living than their parents in advanced economies. On top of that, their job prospects are changing dramatically. With computers and the internet, there are already fewer positions around, in particular, knowledge-based white-collar jobs. But if information technologies have been unforgiving in eliminating jobs, the rise and rise of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) would likely be merciless.

Fundamentally, we can improve living standards in two ways. One is to raise productivity, something that technologies have been very good at. Another is to create more job opportunities. And the single best way to do so is to support the creation of lots of new companies that need to hire in order to grow.

It is therefore more important than ever to build an entrepreneurial Europe.