ABSTRACT
Inside and outside Switzerland the country’s economic relations with the European Union (EU) and the world economy are seen as a crucial factor that determines the standard of living in the country. For some the country is already highly integrated economically with the rest of the world and thus hardly needs a further dose of economic or even political integration in the EU. Others feel, however, that the country is losing out because of its self-imposed exclusion from the EU. They believe that the country is not as integrated or open as it could be and claim that the lack of integration is putting a burden on the country’s prosperity and growth. The question is, therefore, how the country’s economic relations with the EU and the world economy differ from those of other countries. And how do we assess the country’s degree of integration in the light of other countries’ experience? Is it a small and open economy?
