For the past five years, the European Union has conducted annual polls in Europe and the United States to determine what motivates people to start their own businesses. The Union sees entrepreneurship as a way to stimulate job creation and growth and has assumed that red tape has held Europeans back. The survey shows that 45 percent of the Europeans would prefer self employment compared to 61 percent of American surveyed. One finding was the fear of failure was higher among Europeans than Americans. Europeans indicated that they prefer a stable job that is reliable and relatively risk free.
See "The Workplace: Risk-takers are a rare breed in EU", Thomas Fuller, International Herald Tribune, January 17, 2005