EDUCATED FOREIGNERS

All European countries face ageing populations and increasing welfare burdens. One solution is to bring in foreigners to do the work and pay the necessary taxes. But not just any old foreigners, because that tends to get people hot under the collar. No, clever foreigners, who will earn a lot, pay a lot of taxes and then (crucially) go home to retire.

Danish politicians talk about "uddannede udlændinger" (educated foreigners) ad nauseam. They think that there are vast queues of them beating down the door trying to get in. As an educated foreigner who has lived here for thirteen years, I think this is rubbish, for reasons I have said before. What is new is that foreigners outside Denmark tend to agree.

The OECD has just done a survey of 30 rich countries, looking at their ability both to attract educated foreigners and to keep them (not the same thing; Britain comes second in the first category, but only seventh in the second). Unfortunately for Danish politicians, Denmark comes 19th out of 30 in both categories, behind not only Norway, Luxembourg and the United States, but Chile, Korea and Israel. Basically, Denmark sucks at this.

Top of both lists, somewhat surprisingly, is not America or Australia or Holland, but Switzerland. It may have a reputation for being a bit boring, but it obviously knows what people want and goes out of its way to ensure they get it.

Walter Blotscher