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Since the days of America’s first Treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, New York’s financial markets have driven and sustained the nation’s economy. And for the last century, companies worldwide that sought to raise capital overwhelmingly came to the United States.

Sadly, and distressingly, that era may be coming to an end, as companies looking for money on the public markets are increasingly going to Europe or Asia. In 2005, initial public offerings of stock in Europe surpassed those in America — in both number and dollar volume. Even as the American IPO market improved in 2006, that trend accelerated: According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, there were 651 IPOs in Europe last year, versus 224 in the U.S., and the European offerings raised almost $40 billion more dollars. China’s markets, with fewer IPOs, raised 30 percent more capital than those in the United States.

WashingtonPost.com: Are U.S. IPOs DOA?