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The UK is the 5th biggest economy in the world. Switzerland is 20th and Norway 30th. The UK has traditionally punched well above its weight economically, it wil

The UK is the 5th biggest economy in the world. Switzerland is 20th and Norway 30th. The UK has traditionally punched well above its weight economically, it will be interesting to see if we become just another Switzerland or Norway after Brexit rather than the world economic power that we are today. Being the banking capital of the EU is a huge contributing factor to that position, btw.

lazyjones 8y ago
> The UK has traditionally punched well above its weight economically How is its trade balance doing lately? Not so good. https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/balance-of-trade https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/balance-of-trade > Being the banking capital of the EU is a huge contributing factor to that position, btw. I'm not sure what economic indicators you are talking about. Certainly none that reflects the actual well-being of the population.
- freedomben 8y ago
  I generally support Brexit, but I'm guessing for reasons much different than yours (I always favor decentralization as a way of increasing the power of the average citizen relative to their government). Maybe we agree? The trade balance tho is not typically a good indicator of economic health, at least not how it's typically pitched: https://mises.org/wire/nonproblem-trade-deficit https://mises.org/wire/nonproblem-trade-deficit
  - Symbiote 8y ago
    The average British citizen will probably have less influence after Brexit, since the EU electoral system is actually reasonable. We'll be left with a first-past-the-post MP, and an unelected (sometimes hereditary!) House of Lords.
  - pjc50 8y ago
    The UK is one of Europe's most centralized states, and Brexit will make it more so - see Scottish government lawsuits.
namdnay 8y ago
+ Norway and Switzerland both have partly artificial economies, buoyed by Oil for the former and dirty money for the latter.
- siquick 8y ago
  Britain has both oil in Scotland, and dirty money flowing through London
  - namdnay 8y ago
    Indeed, but not enough unfortunately
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  Just as an aside : You're probably much better off to launder your money in London (for example via a shell company owning massively valuable real estate[1]) than in Switzerland, nowadays. Traditionally money laundring was always much less of a problem in Switzerland than supporting tax evasion. With the automatic exchange of information[2] this will pretty much be a non issue in the future. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hyde_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hyde_Park [2] https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home/themen/wirtschaft--waehrung--finanzplatz/finanzmarktpolitik/automatic-exchange-of-information--aeoi-.html https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home/themen/wirtschaft--waeh...
Latteland 8y ago
Here's a list of the top 10 est 2019 world economies. UK will go from #5 down to 7 for sure. If they actually suffer much trouble they'll fall further. #5 UK 2.982T, France 2.935T, India 2.934T. I forgot Brazil was so high, #9 at 2.095. https://www.focus-economics.com/blog/the-largest-economies-in-the-world https://www.focus-economics.com/blog/the-largest-economies-i...
- lazyjones 8y ago
  > UK will go from #5 down to 7 for sure. Mostly because of India's growth. So what? It's GDP we're talking about, a largely meaningless indicator nowadays. UK is #27 in GDP (PPP) per capita rankings. India is #122. Is it better to live in an economy with large GDP or better purchasing power? Is India somehow better off than the UK once it overtakes it by GDP due to population growth?
  - adventured 8y ago
    PPP GDP is nearly worthless as a measure. It's a fraudulent number cooked up subjectively at a distance with very little on the ground information. Nobody actually goes country to country and surveys the details to calculate the PPP figures, it's created half out of thin air. That's how you get Saudi Arabia at $55k PPP GDP per capita, ranking above Sweden, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, UK - you know, just most of the nicest countries on earth. Back in reality, their GDP per capita is actually $21,000 and ranks them near Greece and below Portugal. It's also how you get Puerto Rico ranking above Czech, Portugal, Estonia, Israel and nearly outranking Italy, New Zealand, South Korea and Spain. What a joke. Nobody actually went top to bottom through Puerto Rico's situation on the ground before calculating that. Half of Russia lives very nearly in third world poverty, with incomes bordering on third world levels. By PPP GDP per capita they get ranked next to Portugal instead, which says absolutely nothing about the actual conditions on the ground for the bottom 1/3 or 1/2 of Russia. Iraq gets ranked above China, Brazil and Colombia per capita PPP GDP. And just below Mexico and Argentina. Again, a joke. You get Equatorial Guinea ranking on PPP per capita above Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia and Portugal; just a bit below New Zealand, Spain and Italy. In reality it's a country with a GDP per capita of just $14,000 and a third world life expectancy of ~58 years. Another farcical PPP adjustment invented out of thin air with zero considerations for reality on the ground.
bayesian_horse 8y ago
Switzerland and Norway both accept large parts of EU legislation and regulations without having a say. They pay into EU programs, without having a say. They accept free movement of workers, without having a say... UK is currently not willing to do any of the sort. So no, Britain will not get the benefits Norway or Switzerland enjoy...

lazyjones 8y ago

> The UK has traditionally punched well above its weight economically How is its trade balance doing lately? Not so good. https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/balance-of-trade https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/balance-of-trade > Being the banking capital of the EU is a huge contributing factor to that position, btw. I'm not sure what economic indicators you are talking about. Certainly none that reflects the actual well-being of the population.

freedomben 8y ago
I generally support Brexit, but I'm guessing for reasons much different than yours (I always favor decentralization as a way of increasing the power of the average citizen relative to their government). Maybe we agree? The trade balance tho is not typically a good indicator of economic health, at least not how it's typically pitched: https://mises.org/wire/nonproblem-trade-deficit https://mises.org/wire/nonproblem-trade-deficit
- Symbiote 8y ago
  The average British citizen will probably have less influence after Brexit, since the EU electoral system is actually reasonable. We'll be left with a first-past-the-post MP, and an unelected (sometimes hereditary!) House of Lords.
- pjc50 8y ago
  The UK is one of Europe's most centralized states, and Brexit will make it more so - see Scottish government lawsuits.

namdnay 8y ago

+ Norway and Switzerland both have partly artificial economies, buoyed by Oil for the former and dirty money for the latter.

siquick 8y ago
Britain has both oil in Scotland, and dirty money flowing through London
- namdnay 8y ago
  Indeed, but not enough unfortunately
CaptainZapp 8y ago
Just as an aside : You're probably much better off to launder your money in London (for example via a shell company owning massively valuable real estate[1]) than in Switzerland, nowadays. Traditionally money laundring was always much less of a problem in Switzerland than supporting tax evasion. With the automatic exchange of information[2] this will pretty much be a non issue in the future. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hyde_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hyde_Park [2] https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home/themen/wirtschaft--waehrung--finanzplatz/finanzmarktpolitik/automatic-exchange-of-information--aeoi-.html https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home/themen/wirtschaft--waeh...

Latteland 8y ago

Here's a list of the top 10 est 2019 world economies. UK will go from #5 down to 7 for sure. If they actually suffer much trouble they'll fall further. #5 UK 2.982T, France 2.935T, India 2.934T. I forgot Brazil was so high, #9 at 2.095. https://www.focus-economics.com/blog/the-largest-economies-in-the-world https://www.focus-economics.com/blog/the-largest-economies-i...

lazyjones 8y ago
> UK will go from #5 down to 7 for sure. Mostly because of India's growth. So what? It's GDP we're talking about, a largely meaningless indicator nowadays. UK is #27 in GDP (PPP) per capita rankings. India is #122. Is it better to live in an economy with large GDP or better purchasing power? Is India somehow better off than the UK once it overtakes it by GDP due to population growth?
- adventured 8y ago
  PPP GDP is nearly worthless as a measure. It's a fraudulent number cooked up subjectively at a distance with very little on the ground information. Nobody actually goes country to country and surveys the details to calculate the PPP figures, it's created half out of thin air. That's how you get Saudi Arabia at $55k PPP GDP per capita, ranking above Sweden, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, UK - you know, just most of the nicest countries on earth. Back in reality, their GDP per capita is actually $21,000 and ranks them near Greece and below Portugal. It's also how you get Puerto Rico ranking above Czech, Portugal, Estonia, Israel and nearly outranking Italy, New Zealand, South Korea and Spain. What a joke. Nobody actually went top to bottom through Puerto Rico's situation on the ground before calculating that. Half of Russia lives very nearly in third world poverty, with incomes bordering on third world levels. By PPP GDP per capita they get ranked next to Portugal instead, which says absolutely nothing about the actual conditions on the ground for the bottom 1/3 or 1/2 of Russia. Iraq gets ranked above China, Brazil and Colombia per capita PPP GDP. And just below Mexico and Argentina. Again, a joke. You get Equatorial Guinea ranking on PPP per capita above Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia and Portugal; just a bit below New Zealand, Spain and Italy. In reality it's a country with a GDP per capita of just $14,000 and a third world life expectancy of ~58 years. Another farcical PPP adjustment invented out of thin air with zero considerations for reality on the ground.

bayesian_horse 8y ago

Switzerland and Norway both accept large parts of EU legislation and regulations without having a say. They pay into EU programs, without having a say. They accept free movement of workers, without having a say... UK is currently not willing to do any of the sort. So no, Britain will not get the benefits Norway or Switzerland enjoy...