LOCATION Switzerland

10/08/2009

LOCATION Switzerland

Download

News from Switzerland Trade and Investiment Promotion  42kB

Top of the News

European countries where regions have more powers and responsibilities in terms of taxation, legislation and education policies tend to do better economically than centralized ones, a Swiss study entitled 'The Impact of Decentralization on Economic Growth' shows.

The study, developed by the Swiss-based BAK research center, measures the impact of decentralization on the economy, as well as the quality of education and innovation in 26 European countries, including non-EU members Switzerland, Norway and Croatia and excluding Luxembourg, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta because of their small size.

The country ranking as most centralized was EU newcomer Bulgaria, followed by the Baltic states, Greece, Croatia, Norway, Ireland, Denmark and France.

At the other end of the scale, Switzerland - famous for deciding almost everything by referendum - ranked first, followed by Germany, Belgium, Spain, Austria and Italy.