Switzerland in the 1800s: poor, mountainous, no coal/iron, fragmented cantons. Yet visionary decisions fueled explosive growth.
Alfred Escher drove the railway boom, building dense networks linking remote valleys to Europe and championing the epic Gotthard Tunnel.
He founded Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (today’s Credit Suisse) to channel private capital into industry. Meanwhile, watchmaking exploded: Huguenot-honed precision skills in the Jura mountains turned tiny villages into export giants by the 1850s, dominating global markets.
No empire or resources but just openness, education, competition & smart policy. They became rich.
Today at ~9M people, is capping population at 10M the right move for continued prosperity? What do you think? 🇨🇭