Future economic opportunities for Switzerland.
Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world. Its standard of living is considerably high and Switzerland has, compared to other OECD countries, a relatively high gross domestic product (GDP) per inhabitant. Even higher than the United States, EU and Japan (source: Brochure 'Switzerland in Figures', UBS 2003 edition). Also, the public debt is very low compared to other OECD countries. But other countries have caught up. In a table of cumulated growth rates of the GDP (1980-2000) Switzerland is placed last. Has Switzerland rested on its laurels? Or is it simply more difficult to grow always at the same speed, when a country already has reached a relatively high level of standard of living. Over the years, Switzerland has permitted itself the luxury of accepting a low productivity in some sectors of its economy, such as agriculture. And that's exactly where Switzerland has to tackle the matter. By increasing the competition of the domestic market the cost of living will go down. The Big Mac index for instance shows that an absolute homogeneous good like a hamburger costs 69% more in Switzerland than in the U.S. Getting rid of the incapability of adapting oneself to a steadily changing environment will offer Switzerland many opportunities and a high potential to increase its productivity. .
Switzerland's (forgotten) values.
After years of bad news (Holocaust Monies, Swissair Grounding etc) Switzerland should recall its own qualities and virtues such as precision work, reliability, flexible labour market, high-quality products, strong economic sectors, education and therefore technical and economical know-how. By combining these qualities, many economic opportunities will offer themselves to Switzerland. There is for instance The Greater Zurich Area with its financial power and its remarkable research and training facilities (ETH/University of Zurich) and north-west Switzerland with its strong chemical and pharmaceutical industry.