| ▲ | stymaar 3 hours ago |
| Nobody in Switzerland is worried about the population growing due to birthrate. This referendum is about stopping immigration (even though in Switzerland more than anywhere else, immigration is at the foundation of the country's wealth). |
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| ▲ | rayiner 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| > (even though in Switzerland more than anywhere else, immigration is at the foundation of the country's wealth). Is that true? Switzerland's foreign-born population was under 5% around WWII. Wasn't Switzerland already a rich country by then? |
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| ▲ | JumpCrisscross 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > Wasn't Switzerland already a rich country by then? In 1940, Switzerland’s GDP/capita was 2.9x [EDIT: the world average]; it peaked at 4.4x in 2000 and is now 3.8x [1]. (It increases linearly, long term, from the mid 20s until 2000.) Relative to Western Europe, Switzerland was 1.6x in 1950, about the same as today. [1] https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/relea... | | |
| ▲ | ashdksnndck 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I feel like I have to read this backwards to perhaps understand it. Is 2.9x the multiplier of Swiss GDP/capita vs the Western Europe average in 1940? | | | |
| ▲ | 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | [deleted] |
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| ▲ | tempay 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | In 1910 the foreign-born population was 14.7% and the drop around WWII was caused by other factors. Much of the industrialisation and banking industry was driven by immigrants. Arguably the wealth of today is the product of managing to avoid the worst of WWII and profiting from Switzerland's "neutrality" but that's an entire conversation by itself. | | |
| ▲ | kakacik 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Well they were neutral, its just most folks, even otherwise smart ones, don't like true neutral behavior if it doesn't actually favor their side, hence such 'smart' snarky remarks I can see all the time, by people feeling they know history. Swiss accepted everybody, hundreds of thousands of refugees too, some parts even when it became obvious they will all face starvation since they were completely encircled by axis. Private banks accepted everybody's money, just like every global bank did before and after the war. They secretly helped allies - check Campione d'Italia story for example. Thats very far from neutral behavior. And so on. But most people don't want to know facts, they want simple black & white stories. It continues till today - they are officially neutral but look at their moves ie against russia during Ukraine war. Completely aligned with west (well apart from US which has top brass collaborating with their sworn mortal enemy). Look how their army looks like - 100% compatibility with NATO, 0% with russia or anybody else. They picked their side, they just don't boast around it, actions speak more than 1000 words. |
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| ▲ | moomin 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | It saw a fair bit of immigration before the war to get there. The war itself obviously helped enrich them by not being in it and also practically zeroed immigration. Immigration continued after the war.
There’s other factors, obviously, like early industrialisation. |
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| ▲ | bluebarbet 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| >in Switzerland more than anywhere else, immigration is at the foundation of the country's wealth Such a claim would need terms to be defined, even before justification. Switzerland's mercenary attitude to immigration is well known, yes. I would argue that endogenous factors (history and culture) are far more important in explaining Switzerland's success. Neither natural resources nor immigration are determinative of a country's wealth. See: Japan, which historically has had neither. |
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| ▲ | bsimpson 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| If the referendum passes and the population crosses the threshold, Switzerland may need to remove itself from e.g. the Schengen area. All the remediations mentioned in the referendum are about suspending immigration. |
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| ▲ | jazz9k 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| It depends on who is immigrating there. Back then, it may have been people actually looking to make a life for themselves. The issue is that the majority now don't ever learn the language and stay on welfare instead of getting a job. |
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