Written by: Matthew F.
Oh Switzerland...with your awe-striking mountains, your picteresquesque little european villages, your decadent chocolate, your beautiful watches, your perpetual neutrality--and lets not forget--your incredibly strong and stable economy. Why is it that you seem to have everything, and how on earth do you possibly surpass the United States in just about every country ranking?
Switzerland has long been known to be one of the top countries in the world, and for quite a few years now, the US News Report has ranked it the #1 overall country. This achievement is by no means isolated though because Switzerland is also ranked the #1 most economically stable by US News, and the third most happy country in the world according to the world happiness report. Now let's compare these stats with the US. The US is ranked #7 best country overall (this is still not too bad though), #18 most happy, and it doesn’t make the top ten chart for most economically stable. Just for reference, Switzerland also has a modest GDP of $705.5 billion which may be small in relation to the US, but according to the World Bank it has a GDP per Capita of around $83,000 which is about double that of the United States’.
Why Switzerland? Why does Switzerland seem to have it all? Well, there are a couple key ingredients in Switzerland’s recipe for success. The two largest reasons why Switzerland is seemingly good at everything are their less work oriented culture and their well structured capitalistic economy.
First of all, their economy. Switzerland’s economy is extremely capitalistic, and honestly, it might even be more capitalistic than America’s economy (I know--it’s hard to believe that it can get any more capitalistic than the US). 99% of the firms that make up both the Swiss and US economy are SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises) and SMEs are defined as having under 250 employees (The Local). So...if both countries are capitalist and are made up of mostly SMEs, then what gives the Swiss economy the edge? The first factor that gives the swiss economy its unique strength is the fact that its net exports are extremely high. Switzerland is a major exporter to the rest of the world and they don’t rely on nearly as many imports as America does. Just think about this; while Switzerland has high positive net exports, the US has negative net exports (Investopedia). Maybe this gives us a little bit of insight as to why Switzerland's economy is always ranked higher than America’s. This brings us to the next major player in the difference between the two economies; the public debt to GDP ratio. Switzerland has a very low public debt to GDP ratio of 48% while, as we now, America’s debt to GDP ratio is definitely far from low with it clocking in at a whopping 110% (The Balance)! Due to Switzerland’s impressively low debt to GDP ratio combined with everything else it has going for it, Switzerland boasts an incredibly stable and self sufficient economy.
To put icing on the cake, Switzerland also has a culture that is extremely conducive to success, productivity, and happiness which definitely helps make the economy and country as a whole so great. In Switzerland, the work life balance is far better than in the US, and the measures that are taken to ensure this are honestly almost incomprehensible when looking at it through an American perspective. For example, Switzerland closes all stores on sunday to ensure that people are getting a break and spending time with their families. I know what you are thinking, “Sure, sunday may be off, but the kids still have school work so it's not like families can actually spend time together.” Well, the Swiss got that covered too; all they had to do is make it illegal to assign homework over the weekend (Growing Up Without Borders). Too good to be true, I know, but to make it even better, even the most prestigious colleges in Switzerland only cost about $1000 per year (Business Insider). Who knew you could have virtually free college and still be the most capitalistic and democratic country in the world?
So next time you see Switzerland come in first place on all of the US News Reports, don’t be surprised. With Switzerland's powerful export based economy and its culture that values the well being of its people, it's no surprise Switzerland gets ranked #1 year after year.
Works Cited
“20 Surprising Differences between Living in Switzerland and USA.” Growing Up Without Borders, 25 Oct. 2019, growingupwithoutborders.com/europe/switzerland/20-surprising-differences-between-living-in-switzerland-and-usa/.
Amadeo, Kimberly. “How to Tell When a Country Has Too Much Debt.” The Balance, The Balance, 29 Apr. 2020, www.thebalance.com/debt-to-gdp-ratio-how-to-calculate-and-use-it-3305832.
“The Best Countries in the World.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/overall-rankings.
“It's a Three-Peat, Finland Keeps Top Spot as Happiest Country in World.” It's a Three-Peat, Finland Keeps Top Spot as Happiest Country in World, 20 Mar. 2020, worldhappiness.report/news/its-a-three-peat-finland-keeps-top-spot-as-happiest-country-in-world/.
Jain, Manish Rai. “7 Reasons Why Life Is Better In Switzerland Than America.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 30 July 2014, www.businessinsider.com/switzerland-is-better-than-america-2014-7.
Majaski, Christina. “What Is the Net Exports Formula?” Investopedia, Investopedia, 5 Feb. 2020, www.investopedia.com/terms/n/netexports.asp.
Radu, Sintia. “These Countries Are Seen as the Most Economically Stable.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/slideshows/the-10-most-economically-stable-countries-ranked-by-perception.
“Swiss Economy – Facts and Figures.” Eidgenössisches Departement Für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten EDA, www.eda.admin.ch/aboutswitzerland/en/home/wirtschaft/uebersicht/wirtschaft---fakten-und-zahlen.html.
“Switzerland Ranks Among the World's Best Countries.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/switzerland.
Tsvirko, Naomi. “Nine Stats to Help Explain the Famously Strong Swiss Economy.” Thelocal.ch, 2019, www.thelocal.ch/20190802/did-you-know-8-facts-about-the-swiss-economy.
Before reading this, I forgot that Switzerland even existed but now I know that it is one of the most successful countries out there. This blog makes me want to travel to Switzerland for a couple of days just to see how different it is from the US.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought about going to Switzerland for vacation but I guess I never really paid that much attention to it that much. But after reading your article It's interesting to see how prominent they actually are. I didn't know how successful of a country they were either. Your graph was also an awesome addition to the piece. It really pulled everything together!
ReplyDeleteI've always had a special interest in some of the northern European countries and was well aware that Switzerland was a successful country, however, I most definitely did not know just how economically stable and overall balanced it is. I think it is extremely interesting that Switzerland's economy is far surpassing that of the United States, despite them technically having the same capitalistic foundation, and it would be interesting to compare other statistics from each nation related to the economies and perhaps to their citizens' financial states.
ReplyDeleteWell, now I want to move to Switzerland, I had no clue it was so nice over there. It seems like the main difference is taht in Switzerland the average citizen's happiness is of upmost importance, while America only cares about progress, which in the end just burns workers out. A higher GDP per Capita is also always a good thing, because it means wealth is more spread out and the poverty rate is lower.
ReplyDeleteI love Switzerland even more now! With their low public debt, no homework on the weekends, and extremely cheap college, they have it right! After reading the article, it is obvious why they are so much more successful compared to the US. I think that we can learn a lot from Switzerland so we can boost our economy and overall happiness!
ReplyDeleteI've always known Switzerland as a beautiful vacation spot, wondered how it fairs as a place of living,and now that I read your article, Switzerland surpassed my expectations. To be ranked as the #3 most happiest country is really awesome especially in comparison to the United State's #18. Their GDP per capita is also quite impressive. I'd really like to visit there even more than I already did.
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered the same question, why Switzerland, but I've never looked it up. I had assumed it might be the location they're in or something to do with their past history, but now I see it has to do with their culture and it's worked into their lifestyle to be less dependent and value spending time with family and education.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading your article it reminded how people often allude to a great military or manufacturing as a way to label "powerful country", but I think it's lies in the fact with how cohesive the country's system works with it's people. Switzerland is the way it is because they tackle or shed light into more of the "up-growing" problems (such as college and capitalism) and I think that's what makes them so great. Overall, you did a great job with the research and nice article.
ReplyDeleteAs a person who travelled to Switzerland, the work life balance really sucks for tourism because everything closes at 6:00 PM so your have to wake up at 5:00 am to actually explore the beautiful country(my opinion -- most beautiful country in the world). As a Mathew Forman but who loves Switzerland instead of France, I have to talk about 2 details you forgot. Other than this one detail everything else is amazing. The wealth of Au Suiss est tres grande parce que le petit tax. What I mean is that the swiss have an artificially higher gdp per capita because of the low taxes and the privacy and banking. This means that the rich are moths to the light that is switzerland. This increases the GDP per capita to a level that does not represent the average person. If the rich outliers are removed the GDP would still be amazingly high because of their specialization in markets that have low supply such as watches, pens, medical equipment, their amazing chocolate and great cheese. Another fact that this country is more capitalistic than the US is misleading because talking to the locals there, the health care is public and the higher education is public. Also the banking is very monopolistic and shady. They also support traditional manufacturing such as coocoo clocks, cheese, chocolate by subsidies. Sure they are present in the US, but they have more subsidies. I can go on about the Swiss Cantons and their different socialistic views and even authoritative views as one canton did not allow woman to vote until 1990! Other than these minor details your blog, as expected from THE Mathew Forman, is amazing, much better than mine for sure.
ReplyDeleteIn the last few years, there has been "crazes" to go to places such as Iceland or other seemingly exotic places. Has tourism affected Switzerland the same way? I wonder how tourism affects the Swiss economy, both positively and negatively as there is a great amount of money in that industry.
ReplyDeleteWhen asked the question, where do you plan on living in your life? Switzerland is one that spikes my interest due to articles and information such as this. It seems that this country has so much to offer and share to the rest of the world. The lifestyle differences clearly make a larger impact on the population as a whole. The leadership and compassion their policies reflect on very well. I also believe its good to educate yourself well enough on the rest of the world because here in Wisconsin is such a small part. There is so much for your eyes to see and you to experience.
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