Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016)

Thanks for the well thought out reply. I think what you say is sensible in the context of relative growth. I suppose the two factors that might allow relative growth of one country's economy to be net positive growth globally would be (a) gains specialisation and trade and (b) advancement in technology (in a sense, one of the aspects of 'efficiency' you discussed above). It seems easy enough to argue one way or the other about how much scope these factors create for 'net positive relative growth', but I would definitely agree it's bounded at some level.

It's a good point about Yew having the advantage of a near-autocracy. Although it might sometimes appear that way to us westerners, this is not entirely the case in China. I have noticed though that there is a (not entirely unjustified) stain of thought that authoritarian government is better able to implement unpopular, but growth positive, government economic policy. It's just my vague concern with nothing to really back it up, but I can't help but feel were slowly sliding towards illiberal 'democracy' in much of the first-world anglosphere. Hopefully I'm mistaken, as I quite like genuine liberal democracy.

The computerisation point is a very interesting one. Putting aside the possibility it's a measurement issue, one other theory I've seen posits that computerisation more often leads to cannibalisation of industries, rather than creation. Albeit these argument generally acknowledge that minor (but still positive) gain are made from higher industrial efficiency. My own pet theory is that computerisation has turned many markets into 'winner-takes-all' markets, meaning gains from efficiency have been translated into (highly concentrated) private wealth much more than they have led to broader increases in economic growth. I think there are two factors at play here: (1) the positive network externalities often associated with computerised markets and (2) the 'always increasing' economies of scale that purely (or mostly) computerised services enjoy, due to the non-rivalrous nature of their consumption.

I'd be very interested to hear your theories if you're willing to share :)

In Europe, you're more likely to die of lung cancer than terrorist attack. It's a load of crap that you'll meet anyone in your life who will genuinely try to end your life. Sure, you might be unlikely, but you also might win the lottery.

With respect to culture.... I don't know what to say to that. It strikes me as very xenophobic and more than a little naive. The way to get your culture to remain is by showing others what is to celebrate about it, not by forbidding them from living around you. It's not like any culture can exist long unchanged while children have access to the internet anyway.

I am not doubting you though when i tried to look it up I found the EU requirement to be 20 days + national holidays (e.g. ireland, italy, Czech Republic,...). How would this be allowed if the EU requires 25 days?