I have an idea that the differences in work ethic across Europe may be partly to do with climate and partly to do with language. In France, the verb 'work' is travailler . Traditionally this meant literally to toil, a chore, an obligation. In Germany, the word werken means to build, create, do. The German word more aligned with travailler is arbeit. This lack of correlation in the word work I believe may explain the…
This makes no sense at all. What is the mechanism at play here? Languages with different etymologies for the verb to work impress those differences into the cultures that use the language? Travailler doesn't really mean toil at all, besogne is the word for really hard chores, lit. Travail pénible. There is no connotation that work is always a chore. French has the same type of words for making things as German goes. This goes back to the agriculture/craftsmen distinction in the middle ages. There is no difference.
>>The second factor I've seen is climate. In the more productive northern European countries, it's generally colder. There's been a historical need for produce and for people to work (not endure or arbeit) to trade in order to get everything you need in terms of food and shelter.
Productivity isn't equivalent to working hard at all. Differences in productivity and wealth in european countries generally go back to pre-industrial developments in technology. Hotter climates tend to not be as integrated into Europe due to simple geography. The alps and the Pyrenees are two examples. You can also look at political developments that helped give rise to reliable systems of law absent elsewhere. As an Arab commented during the crusades, the crusaders could depend on freedom from arbitrary judgments. Again, this development seems to be based on geography but has nothing to do with the climate per se.