Inflation in the Post-war Swiss Economy: an Econometric Study of the Interaction between Immigration and the Labour Market

Abstract

The development of the Swiss economy in the post-war period has much in common with that of other European economies. As shown in Table I, common features of these economies were a relatively high rate of growth of real GNP, coupled with low levels of unemployment and steadily rising levels of wages and prices. The Swiss economy appears to have been exceptional however, as far as the conditions which generally prevailed in the labour market are concerned. Whereas in most Western European countries, economic growth has meant a continuing tightness in the labour market, consideration of the unemployment percentages in Table I suggest that pressure in the labour market was greater in Switzerland than in any other country.