Economic history of Switzerland

The economic history of Switzerland shows the long-term transition from a poor rural economy to a world leader in finance with a very high standard of living.

Before that time, the city-cantons of Zürich, Geneva, and Basel in particular began to develop economically based on industry and trade, while the rural regions of Switzerland remained poor and underdeveloped.

But in Switzerland, hydraulic power was often used instead of steam engines because of the country's mountainous topography and lack of significant deposits of coal.

While Switzerland was primarily rural, the cities experienced an industrial revolution in the late 19th century, focused especially on textiles.

Escher headed the largest firm, the Swiss Northeastern Railway, with links to major foreign lines.

[7] Tourism began in Switzerland with British mountaineers climbing the main peaks of the Bernese Alps in the early 19th century (Jungfrau 1811, Finsteraarhorn 1812).

Reconvalescence in the Alpine climate, in particular from tuberculosis, was another important branch of tourism in the 19th and early 20th centuries: for example in Davos, Graubünden.

The first organised tourist holidays to Switzerland were offered during the 19th century by the Thomas Cook and Lunn Travel companies.

[8][9] The industrial sector began to grow in the 19th century with a laissez-faire industrial/trade policy, Switzerland's emergence as one of the most prosperous nations in Europe, sometimes termed the "Swiss miracle", was a development of the mid 19th to early 20th centuries, among other things tied to the role of Switzerland during the World Wars.

[12] In the 1940s, particularly during World War II, the economy profited from the increased export and delivery of weapons to Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and other European countries.

Switzerland's production facilities were largely undamaged by the war, and afterwards both imports and exports grew rapidly.

[14] In 1974 there were three nationwide car-free Sundays when private transport was prohibited as a result of the oil supply shock.

In 1970 industry still employed about 46% of the labor force, but during the economic recession of the 1970s the services sector grew to dominate the national economy.

By 1970 17.2% of the population and about one quarter of the work force were foreign nationals, though job losses during the economic recession decreased this number.

In 2008, Switzerland was in second place among European countries with populations above one million in terms of nominal and purchasing power parity GDP per capita, behind Norway (see list).

[16] In the early 2000s recession, being so closely linked to the economies of Western Europe and the United States, Switzerland could not escape the slowdown in these countries.

After the worldwide stock market crashes in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there were more announcements of false enterprise statistics[clarification needed] and exaggerated managers' wages.

Besides that, monetary institutions should increasingly credit consumers[clarification needed] and offer cheaper land to be built on.

These measures were applied with successful results while the government strove for the Magical Hexagon of full employment, social equality, economic growth, environmental quality, positive trade balance and price stability.

The administration also confirmed that Switzerland would continue to offer its services to find a peaceful solution in the conflict.

Switzerland only participates in humanitarian missions and provides relief supplies to the Ukrainian population and neighbouring countries.