Lichtenstein - A Local Prince in a Small Country
A Castle on the Hill
Lichtenstein is one of the world's smallest countries. It's just over 60 square miles. For such a small country, it also has one of the highest GDPs and lowest unemployment rates. I stopped in to see if I could figure out what they were doing right when it came to finances.
Here we are in the center of Lichtenstein's capital city, Vaduz. So far, it looks pretty much like any other European city we've been in. The castle on the hill belongs to the Prince, and he actually lives there. It was striking to see the ruler of a country living so close to the 'commoners' over which he reigns. As it turns out, his whole family lives in that castle.
The City of Vaduz
Perhaps a clue as to the city's wealth can be found downtown. Exploring the area near the castle we notice that there is a heavy focus on the arts. Statues and sculptures are everywhere, and the city has gone to great lengths to be attractive. The shoe sculpture pictured above sits just outside of a shoe store.
Here is yet another example of the statuary ubiquitous throughout Vaduz. The horse statue sat outside of an art museum (no surprise there!) while the bird(?) was in a shop window. His alligator buddy (below) was in the window with him.
So what makes Lichtenstein such a prosperous country? Well, I dug a little deeper into the prince's rule. It turns out that his people place a great deal of trust in him. A few years ago, there was a vote to remove his veto power. The majority of the citizens of his country voted to let him KEEP the power to veto things they had voted on. That shows a great deal of faith in their leader, and more than anything, is likely what leads to such a prosperous country.
What do YOU think makes them such a wealthy country?
Thanks for joining me in Lichtenstein. Find me at Travel Life Services when you are ready to book your smallest countries tour.
Happy Travels!
Jennifer
Join us @steemitbloggers
Animation By @zord189
I have no clue on the answer to your question but we have cities here in Texas that are way bigger than that country so it amazes me that the country of the size hasn't been swallowed up by some neighboring country.
I guess the people trust their ruler if they gave him veto power over the decisions that the people made. Either that or they fear the consequences if they had not done it. It might be better to pretend you trust him then to show him you don't and then have to live in fear from showing your distrust.
Anyway, nice clean looking place, thanks for sharing it with us. I also hope someone knows the answer and shares it here, I hate to have to google everything.
I wish I could get paid to google things. I really enjoy having all that info at my fingertips...it just sucks that I get lost in learning things so easily. I learned a lot about Lichtenstein because I was curious why they have a prince and not a king. Then I learned that the prince is really a prince regent, so I assumed that meant his parents were dead. So I googled it and found out that his parent aren't dead, but alive and well, although daddy is a bit controversial (and still called the prince, by the way) so he decided to step back from the throne and give the day to day control to his son. So dad is technically the real prince, while son is the prince regent. And then I learned about their world-famous wineries carefully curated by the royal family and I learned about the veto and referendum and ok, I'm going to stop now because this could go for a really long time.
I'm glad you stopped by, and I sure hope someone shows up who knows for sure the answer. :-) It's an interesting theory that maybe they are just pretending to trust him. I hadn't thought of it that way.
That is the good thing about how this system works here, we all look at things from different angles and the views can be drastically different or varied only slightly or not at all. The point being that we all can learn and expand our knowledge just by reading and commenting.
That is so interesting that the Father of the Prince Regent is alive but stepped back from ruling. I wonder what his retirement check looks like every month.
Ha, I bet it's a hefty check! And yes, I like exposure to different perspectives. It's one of the main ways people build intelligence, in my opinion.
howdy there mattifer! what a wonderful post! I love that castle on the hill. I was wondering what they produce for their wealth but that answer was in your comments, very good. It's an interesting post about an interesting country and thoroughly enjoyed it! great job!
Hey, good to see you again! As for the wealth, I don't think it comes from the wine. That's more of a hobby for the royal family as far as I can tell. I'm really not sure how they are so prosperous. Banking maybe?
howdy again mattifer! well I don't know but I think you better go back and find out and do another post about it! lol.
Excellent idea! I like the way you think.
This country goes to my list! I would love to visit it! And I love castles :) I think what makes them wealthy might be the collective effort of all the people who live there.
Thanks for stopping by. You have a valid point: with unemployment being so low there is a higher percent of people actually pulling their weight on a daily basis. The restaurant we had lunch at was also terribly expensive. Matthew ordered chicken nuggets with fries and it was $23 USD! For comparison, in the type of restaurant we were in, that would have been about $9 in the US.
I do hope you get to visit Liechtenstein soon. In the meantime, feel free to check back into my blog. 😀
My father visited Lichtenstein while he was in the US Army in the 1950s. He was stationed in Germany and went down there on leave/holiday one time. I'd like to see it for myself one day! Thanks for giving #steemitbloggers a peek at the place! 💚
Thanks for stopping by! I too am a huge fans of heels. They had some really cool shoe stores there. And by really cool I mean they looked like high quality shoes with unique designs. Alas, they were closed... :-( that seems to be the theme of my trip to Europe.
Dear @mattifer,
Your story attracted our attention and we would like to introduce our tag #archisteem that could provide you with some extra support. For your information, we are currently running the project – 1001 Places to Remember. Your content is a fit for the project and could be qualified for the 10 Steemreward biweekly contest. It would be great if we can have this story of yours included in the project. If you agree, please reply to us.
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Hey thanks for the heads up. I'm actually working as one of the editors for the 1001 Places project. Would that preclude me from participating? I guess I hadn't considered submitted my own work.
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It does seem like a very nice looking place with great history! However, I'm not so keen that they act as a tax haven for wealthy individuals and companies. It is great for the local population, but it comes at the cost of the lost revenue from the surrounding greater Europe....
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@mattifer,
I used to manage hedge funds. Lichtenstein is one of the world's most notorious tax havens. Little Switzerland if you will.
Quill
So how does that work? I'd like a tax heaven, I mean haven. How much money does one need to be making before they should open bank accounts in Leichtenstein?