Ernst is fifty years old, a native German who received his medical degree at the University of Heidelberg before training in pulmonary and critical-care medicine in the United States.
Switzerland's taxes and spending are lower than otherwise, and its labour productivity higher, because the Swiss can vote on fiscal issues, says Lars Feld of the University of Heidelberg.
Which brings me to Heidelberg, a city steeped in the past--its famous castle and university date back to the eleventh century--but which offers an intriguing glimpse of the future.