Γιατί είναι η Ελβετία τόσο πλούσια;
Switzerland’s success should be interesting to anyone who cares about European prosperity. But the country is rarely discussed; I see an in-depth piece on Switzerland maybe once every two years. Given Europe’s stagnant economies and increasing debt burden, this seems like an oversight—we urgently need ideas for increasing European wealth, if only to fund our defense.
και
Is Switzerland just an economic free-rider, harming its neighbors by pulling in wealthy foreigners and multinational companies? Swiss policies do attract plenty of foreign companies and workers (25% of its population is foreign-born). But I don’t think they are free-riding: workers in Switzerland put in plenty of hours—around 200 more than workers in Germany—and Swiss companies are productive: across various innovation rankings, Switzerland often ranks first. I think an easy heuristic on free-riding goes as follows: Do you think Europe would lose out on growth and innovation if Swiss taxation and regulation were raised to the European average? I’d certainly think so.
O Simon Grimm γράφει για την περίπτωση της Ελβετίας, η οποία για μια χρονιά ακόμα βγήκε 1η στον κόσμο στην καινοτομία1.
Αναγνωρίζοντας πολλές από τις ιδιαιτερότητες που κάνουν την Ελβετία, Ελβετία, νομίζω η πιο ενδιαφέρουσα παράγραφος είναι αυτή:
But overall, Switzerland still seems like a good example of what a century-long attachment to liberalism can yield. In the absence of catastrophe, growth has become self-reinforcing. By now, a central goal of Swiss politics is to keep the golden goose alive. While it would take a lot longer to identify all the other factors that underpin Swiss growth, liberal governance seems among the most obvious candidates.
Τροφή για σκέψη.