US policymakers and companies looking to prepare for a more sustainable future in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic may want to look at the success of a smaller, developed state — Switzerland.
Switzerland regularly tops innovation, competitiveness and quality-of-life rankings despite being a $706bn economy and home to just 8.7m people. It is also the richest country in the world as measured by wealth per adult. Its public sector is lean, with public debt only 43 per cent of gross domestic product. Institutional and real infrastructure is strong.
The Swiss record on dealing with Covid-19 is not significantly better or worse than elsewhere. It recently reported 2,468 new cases daily per million people, with 67.2 per cent of its total population fully vaccinated. This compared with 1,994 cases per million in the US, which has a vaccination rate of 62 per cent. But its economic record and outlook for the years to come, regardless of whether or not Covid-19 becomes endemic, seems bright. The reasons for that success are as relevant for large states as for small states ones.