Subnostr

Switzerland has one of the lowest GDP’s of any of the industrialized countries. It also sits atop Yale’s Environmental Performance Index and has some of the happiest people in the world.

GDP measures mythical growth and financial services with the same weight that it lends real production. It is an inadequate measure of non-market production like government services.

It’s time to use a better measure of an economy’s vitality:

Sustainable National Income

Genuine Progress Indicator

Adjusted Net Savings

Human Development Index

Happiness Index

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

a source familiar with the matter 2y ago

Switzerland has the 4th highest GDP per Capita in the world according to Le Wik

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita

a source familiar with the matter 2y ago

Switzerland also has a pretty outsized financial sector, and is sort of famous for banking (especially privacy)

Undisciplined 2y ago

All of these metrics have serious shortcomings. I think the right approach is to look at them together, keeping in mind what each brings to the table, to get a holistic picture of an economy.

Also, keep an eye on net migration, because that's the best metric of revealed preferences.

Aurelius 2y ago

I agree with your first paragraph.

Net migration would be a far more useful metric in a borderless world. Borderless would mean no political barriers, no financial-migration barriers, no language barriers, and no cultural barriers…a largely impossible (and possibly undesirable) task. But the political and financial limitations to migration are quite possibly within reach in a world with open money/open communication in place

Undisciplined 2y ago

Totally agree. It's just another metric to keep an eye on.

ish4k 2y ago

I agree. but then BRICS, who’ve just achieved a bigger GDP than NATO, would go back to sixth layer of hell.