...rules designed to save citizens from harm have conspired with economic cautiousness to close wallets in continental Europe. A thicket of laws to protect employees ensnares retailers, keeping prices high and store hours short...Limits on consumer finance protect borrowers from indebtedness -- and stifle the use of credit cards. Western Europe has only 0.27 credit cards per person, compared with 2.23 in the U.S. State pension systems are running out of funds, so people save extra for their retirement. Moreover, many affluent Europeans just don't want to spend their free time shopping...

In France, the evening news repeatedly broadcasts features on the dangers of over-indebtedness, and regulations discourage borrowing to consume. For example, the French central bank requires credit cards to display clearly the words "Carte de Credit," to distinguish them from more popular, less-stigmatized debit cards, which draw directly on a checking account.

"The consumer doesn't want to show to the retailer that he is paying on credit," says Herve Kergoat, MasterCard International Inc.'s country manager for France. "In France there is a culture strongly averse to credit."

David Thesmar, an economics professor at the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique in Paris, doesn't even have a credit card. He and his wife want only enough money to meet their spending needs, and he would rather spend his free time with his kids than go shopping, he says. "I'm not a very big shopper," says the 32-year-old. "I don't feel bad when I buy cultural things like books or CDs, but it feels bad to buy futile things, especially when I buy clothes."

...while the average American spends more than $5,500 a year using credit cards, the equivalent figure for Germany is only $64, and for France just $30, according to Euromonitor International, a market-research company.