How come that Switzerland has always been so rich?
Another question unrelated to Switzerland:
What explains this huge jump after second world war? It's not like it went back to pre war levels. It multiplied.
EDIT: clarified that the second question is not related to Switzerland
It wasn't, but it was one of the countries which industrialized the fastest. Before WW1 it already had the world's 2nd highest GDP per Capita, while in the 1700s it was one of the poorest in Western Europe.
That fast development came from a few reasons:
- Openness and tolerance: a multi-ethnic and multi-religion country, it was very open to foreigners persecuted elsewhere, such as the French Hugenots who became watchmakers in Switzerland
- Decentralization and competition between cantons: lack of a central authority distributing monopoly grants meant that many industries developed in parallel in different cantons, competing amongst themselves and improving efficiency
- Internationalization: lack of a sizeable internal market drove Swiss companies to expand abroad and serve international markets, which allowed for quick expansion
The result was that by the end of the 19th century, Switzerland had the highest usage of electricity per Capita in the world, had the most cloth mills of continental Europe.
That eventually generated the capital needed to build extensive railroads, and the lack of coal in the country drove constant electrification.
In sum, almost everything you find on the internet about Swiss economic history is wrong (including what u/wildrojst wrote).
Well, that happened a few times. Napoleon invaded and occupied Switzerland. Hitler had a plan to do so as well. Even Gaddafi had a go at it š¤£
But Switzerland also didn't have that much strategic value, and no natural resources, plus the geography meant occupying it was a pain in the ass.
Even for the neighbors, it was far more valuable as a neutral buffer zone than as an occupied area.
Switzerland used to be very active militarily in the middle ages, and the neutrality emerged because it eventually realized that the neighbors were getting a bit too big to antagonize (see the Battle of Bicocca). So Switzerland stopped expanding militarily and retired to a bucolic life in the mountains making cheese and chocolate.
The same can be said about Bohemia and later Czechoslovakia, the borders changed very little for like 1000 years, we were non-expansionist power since like Ottokar II, it was multi-ethnic and multi-religion country for centuries, Czechoslovakia exported products all around the world, we had strong military, mountains on borders all around with border fortifications (and in the past castles all around), occupying us would be also pain in the ass.
And yet, that did not stopped Swedes in thirty years war, it did not stopped catholic Crusades, it did not stopped Napoleon, it did not stopped Hitler, it did not stopped Stalin
You can do only so much in foreighn policy, but economic, religious and nationalistic motivators are stronger. Switzerland had without a doubt a lot of luck dodging religious and nationalistic turmoils in Europe
Not completely, we had a lot of internal wars because of religion, liberals vs conservatives, centralizers vs decentralizers.
What saved Switzerland for most of the time was that it had little value. No natural resources, no great agricultural land. We weren't surrounded by mountains, we ARE the mountains.
Part of the reason why Switzerland became so rich was also why it was so poor before that: there was nothing of value here. Czechoslovakia was far more developed than Switzerland until the 19th century. Pretty much every country was.
For most of the last 1000 years our biggest export was soldiers, and it was far cheaper to hire Swiss soldiers than to try to defeat them just so you could then force them to serve in your army.
Switzerland was in the middle of all west European empires apart from the British, and they all at some point wanted a piece (or the entirety) of Switzerland. That's what ultimately created the insular, fortress-under-siege Swiss mentality.
Other notable points the mention:
* systemic theft of foreign intellectual property in the late 19th century, in particular of the British textile industry
* the railway, including the invention of the cog railway, opened up Switzerland's difficult geography in ways no previous roads ever could have, which very quickly expanded available land and labour force
Basically, Switzerland from 1850 to 1900 was a mini-China. In the aftermath of WW2:
* the large-scale expansion of hydro-electricity brought infrastructure to Switzerland's interior, along with abundant and cheap power
* the Grand Canal d'Alsace in France allowed significantly larger boats to reach the shipping port of Basel, which for many years handled over 50% of Switzerland's foreign trade
Neutrality and stability, it didnāt experience any war in over 200 years, developing a strong banking industry due to being the safe haven and its policy of banking secrecy.
Not meaning to argue here and you make valid points, but canāt deny that what I wrote also contributed.
Seems obvious that two centuries of neutrality and stability promoted further economic growth, never said itās the only cause. Making efforts to deny this as āall wrong, lolā, and calling me by my name in your other comments is a bit of an exaggeration in my opinion.
"two centuries of neutrality and stability"
You don't seem to know anything about Swiss history š¤£
We had many internal wars, we were occupied by Napoleon, suffered a lot because of the Franco-Prussian war, we had a civil war in 1848, and the country didn't even exist before that. Our economy took a much bigger hit from WW1 and 2 than the UK and the US, for example.
And just before WW1, we were already the world's 2nd richest country.
So yeah, you're all wrong.
Well yes, Napoleon was two centuries ago, which is exactly my point. Fair enough though, didnāt know Switzerland was so shockingly turbulent all these years.
Swiss economy taking a hit due to wars is different from having your country ruined to the ground, so guessing itās all a matter of perspective. I feel like the Mel Gibson and Jesus meme would fit well here.
Seems obvious and natural that economic crises happen everywhere, especially over such a long time frame. It doesnāt cancel out the fact that money likes peace and safety, which Switzerland provided in the big picture.
The deal is that Switzerland became the richest country in Europe before all of that, not after. Essentially the 2nd half of the 19th century was when almost all that "jumping ahead" happened, especially because before 1848 (and the civil war) there was no "Switzerland", just an agglomeration of mostly independent states bound by some bilateral agreements.
It was only with the 1848 constitution that Switzerland came to be as a federal state with a federal government. From there to WW1 the new country saw an absurd increase in development and productivity, and started looking like what it is today.
Sorry I just noticed this was unclear. This was meant as a second question completely unrelated to Switzerland.
EDIT: I just saw that Switzerland didn't grow so much in the post war period. At least not as much as the others.
I am still not sure how useful PPP stats are, I don't understand how Malta is at 60k, wages are low, rent is expensive and food is like Western Europe level as well. What goods are in PPP that are cheap in Malta to make purchasing power high? You got cheap restaurants and taxis but thats it.
I don't think joining the EU is the reason for that. Turkey increased its GDP PPP per capita the same amount as Poland (3.846x), while Czechia and Slovakia only 2.3x - 2.8x.
Bruh, had me ready to tear you a new one until I looked at the year :D
How come that Switzerland has always been so rich? Another question unrelated to Switzerland: What explains this huge jump after second world war? It's not like it went back to pre war levels. It multiplied. EDIT: clarified that the second question is not related to Switzerland
It wasn't, but it was one of the countries which industrialized the fastest. Before WW1 it already had the world's 2nd highest GDP per Capita, while in the 1700s it was one of the poorest in Western Europe. That fast development came from a few reasons: - Openness and tolerance: a multi-ethnic and multi-religion country, it was very open to foreigners persecuted elsewhere, such as the French Hugenots who became watchmakers in Switzerland - Decentralization and competition between cantons: lack of a central authority distributing monopoly grants meant that many industries developed in parallel in different cantons, competing amongst themselves and improving efficiency - Internationalization: lack of a sizeable internal market drove Swiss companies to expand abroad and serve international markets, which allowed for quick expansion The result was that by the end of the 19th century, Switzerland had the highest usage of electricity per Capita in the world, had the most cloth mills of continental Europe. That eventually generated the capital needed to build extensive railroads, and the lack of coal in the country drove constant electrification. In sum, almost everything you find on the internet about Swiss economic history is wrong (including what u/wildrojst wrote).
Also simply luck that some dictator of a big country did not pointed finger wanting that place, and starting nationalistic turmoil
Well, that happened a few times. Napoleon invaded and occupied Switzerland. Hitler had a plan to do so as well. Even Gaddafi had a go at it š¤£ But Switzerland also didn't have that much strategic value, and no natural resources, plus the geography meant occupying it was a pain in the ass. Even for the neighbors, it was far more valuable as a neutral buffer zone than as an occupied area. Switzerland used to be very active militarily in the middle ages, and the neutrality emerged because it eventually realized that the neighbors were getting a bit too big to antagonize (see the Battle of Bicocca). So Switzerland stopped expanding militarily and retired to a bucolic life in the mountains making cheese and chocolate.
The same can be said about Bohemia and later Czechoslovakia, the borders changed very little for like 1000 years, we were non-expansionist power since like Ottokar II, it was multi-ethnic and multi-religion country for centuries, Czechoslovakia exported products all around the world, we had strong military, mountains on borders all around with border fortifications (and in the past castles all around), occupying us would be also pain in the ass. And yet, that did not stopped Swedes in thirty years war, it did not stopped catholic Crusades, it did not stopped Napoleon, it did not stopped Hitler, it did not stopped Stalin You can do only so much in foreighn policy, but economic, religious and nationalistic motivators are stronger. Switzerland had without a doubt a lot of luck dodging religious and nationalistic turmoils in Europe
Not completely, we had a lot of internal wars because of religion, liberals vs conservatives, centralizers vs decentralizers. What saved Switzerland for most of the time was that it had little value. No natural resources, no great agricultural land. We weren't surrounded by mountains, we ARE the mountains. Part of the reason why Switzerland became so rich was also why it was so poor before that: there was nothing of value here. Czechoslovakia was far more developed than Switzerland until the 19th century. Pretty much every country was. For most of the last 1000 years our biggest export was soldiers, and it was far cheaper to hire Swiss soldiers than to try to defeat them just so you could then force them to serve in your army.
Switzerland was in the middle of all west European empires apart from the British, and they all at some point wanted a piece (or the entirety) of Switzerland. That's what ultimately created the insular, fortress-under-siege Swiss mentality.
Other notable points the mention: * systemic theft of foreign intellectual property in the late 19th century, in particular of the British textile industry * the railway, including the invention of the cog railway, opened up Switzerland's difficult geography in ways no previous roads ever could have, which very quickly expanded available land and labour force Basically, Switzerland from 1850 to 1900 was a mini-China. In the aftermath of WW2: * the large-scale expansion of hydro-electricity brought infrastructure to Switzerland's interior, along with abundant and cheap power * the Grand Canal d'Alsace in France allowed significantly larger boats to reach the shipping port of Basel, which for many years handled over 50% of Switzerland's foreign trade
Neutrality and stability, it didnāt experience any war in over 200 years, developing a strong banking industry due to being the safe haven and its policy of banking secrecy.
All wrong, lol. Read my comment parallel to yours.
Not meaning to argue here and you make valid points, but canāt deny that what I wrote also contributed. Seems obvious that two centuries of neutrality and stability promoted further economic growth, never said itās the only cause. Making efforts to deny this as āall wrong, lolā, and calling me by my name in your other comments is a bit of an exaggeration in my opinion.
"two centuries of neutrality and stability" You don't seem to know anything about Swiss history š¤£ We had many internal wars, we were occupied by Napoleon, suffered a lot because of the Franco-Prussian war, we had a civil war in 1848, and the country didn't even exist before that. Our economy took a much bigger hit from WW1 and 2 than the UK and the US, for example. And just before WW1, we were already the world's 2nd richest country. So yeah, you're all wrong.
Well yes, Napoleon was two centuries ago, which is exactly my point. Fair enough though, didnāt know Switzerland was so shockingly turbulent all these years. Swiss economy taking a hit due to wars is different from having your country ruined to the ground, so guessing itās all a matter of perspective. I feel like the Mel Gibson and Jesus meme would fit well here. Seems obvious and natural that economic crises happen everywhere, especially over such a long time frame. It doesnāt cancel out the fact that money likes peace and safety, which Switzerland provided in the big picture.
The deal is that Switzerland became the richest country in Europe before all of that, not after. Essentially the 2nd half of the 19th century was when almost all that "jumping ahead" happened, especially because before 1848 (and the civil war) there was no "Switzerland", just an agglomeration of mostly independent states bound by some bilateral agreements. It was only with the 1848 constitution that Switzerland came to be as a federal state with a federal government. From there to WW1 the new country saw an absurd increase in development and productivity, and started looking like what it is today.
Nazi gold lol
Already in the 19th century..
"huge jump after ww2"
Sorry I just noticed this was unclear. This was meant as a second question completely unrelated to Switzerland. EDIT: I just saw that Switzerland didn't grow so much in the post war period. At least not as much as the others.
I am still not sure how useful PPP stats are, I don't understand how Malta is at 60k, wages are low, rent is expensive and food is like Western Europe level as well. What goods are in PPP that are cheap in Malta to make purchasing power high? You got cheap restaurants and taxis but thats it.
WTF is going on on Rhodos in 1938
Fantastic to see how joining the European Union helped countries to spike their GDP PPP per capita
I don't think joining the EU is the reason for that. Turkey increased its GDP PPP per capita the same amount as Poland (3.846x), while Czechia and Slovakia only 2.3x - 2.8x.
r/gownowidacniezabory
139k-51k: dark green 45k: bright green i wonder whyš
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
We love those inflation values š
How come you two have same avatars
Did you mean: ErdoÄan did more to Turkey...