The era of colonial expansion was over, and the Viennese government's focus was once again at home. The most serious problem in Austria today is the uneven economic development in the country and the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

Looking at the per capita income of 64.6 Aegis alone, this figure is not low. After deducting children and the elderly, the per capita income of the labor force has exceeded 100.

However, the reality is that the annual income of big capitalists and big aristocrats is tens of millions, and the actual annual income of the vast majority of ordinary workers is less than 30 Aegis.

Franz also has a vested interest in this regard, as he has raised his per capita income, but now he has to worry about the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

Take Vienna as an example, as the city with the highest per capita income in the world, Vienna's per capita annual income is as high as 328 Aegis.

This income is placed in any country or region in the world, and it is above the middle class.

As Austria's financial, cultural, technological, and educational capital, it seems not surprising that Vienna has so many resource bonuses.

However, the statistics tell Franz that this is only a superficial prosperity, and the internal problems are already very serious.

Vienna has a population of 1.06 million, of which 620,000 are of working age. Less than 11.2% have an annual income of 328 Aegis, only 29.6% have an annual income of more than 100 Aegis, and 24.6% have an annual income of less than 30 Aegis. (Labor force population only)

This is still the capital, and there are only so many low-income people, and if you change to another area, I am afraid it will be even more serious.

According to the statistics, 31.2% of the poor people in the country have an annual income of less than 20 Aegis. This is not the data that a developed country should have, but it is the reality.

The huge disparity between the rich and the poor is only one aspect, and the imbalance in regional development is even more alarming. The poorest small county has a per capita annual income of less than 8 Aegis.

This income is estimated to be only enough to eat potatoes. This is still based on the premise that Austria is a grain producing country, and if it is in England, it will have to find wild vegetables to make do.

And this gap is still getting bigger. The poorer the poorer, the richer the richer.

The old problems have not been solved, and new ones have emerged. With the development of the economy, the gap between urban and rural areas is widening at an alarming rate.

The five years from the abolition of serfdom in 1848 to 1854 were the golden years of rural economic development in Austria, and the value of agricultural output increased by 56 percent in five years.

Then the rural economy slowed down rapidly, especially after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis in 1873, when the Austrian rural economy experienced negative growth for a time.

In 1875, the growth rate of the rural economy in Austria was less than 1%, which can almost be said to be standing still.

With so many questions converging, Franz's hair was on the verge of dying. "Solve" is easy to say, the question is how to solve it?

Not only Austria, but also no other country in the 19th century was exempt from the problem, and no one was able to solve these problems.

Ever since Franz raised these questions, the Vienna government has been trying to figure out a solution, but the reality is still so harsh.

Franz didn't even dare to give the order that the bureaucrats had to settle it, because once the order was given, he was afraid that he would not see the real data.

Now is not the era of the Internet, in this era of backward communications, it is very easy to whitewash the peace, just change the data with a stroke of the pen.

Deception is a natural skill of the bureaucracy, as exemplified by the tsarist government next door. Ever since Alexander II pushed for reforms, the Russian Empire has grown at an astonishing pace on paper.

Looking at the data on paper, the industrial strength of the Russian Empire has surpassed that of Austria, and it is estimated that it will surpass the European continent in a few years, and perhaps in the lifetime of Alexander II, the Russian Empire will be able to surpass the whole world.

Compared with the bureaucracy of the tsarist government, the Austrian bureaucracy was quite conscientious. Data falsification doesn't exist, but it's definitely not that frustrating.

This is a credit to Franz. As a qualified emperor, it is necessary to distinguish rewards and punishments, so a strict reward system for whistleblowing has been formulated.

You can falsify data, but you have to ensure that everyone cooperates, and it is not enough to ensure that the next government cooperates, you must ensure that the next government will cooperate.

The responsibility system is lifelong, and all those who do not report are jointly and severally liable. Cancel all the honors you have received and go to jail together for the rest of your life.

As a whistleblower, he is directly promoted to the third level, and he can also enter the investigation department to work specifically to investigate data fraud.

As a sacrifice of this policy, the bureaucrats of the province of Bosnia and Herzegovina were the first to be unlucky. An official who was originally very optimistic about Franz was included in the cabinet candidate list and was also planted.

Thousands of public officials were imprisoned at one time, and the bureaucracy in the province of Bosnia and Herzegovina was implicated and almost wiped out.

After this effect, everyone converged, and the data returned to normal at once.

Officialdom is mixed, who doesn't have a few political enemies? If the local government were monolithic, the Vienna government would not be able to sleep for a long time!

Hold on tightly, and naturally don't dare to mess around below. Isn't it just statistics, just report it honestly. It is true that falsification is easy to make political achievements, and it is even easier to go to prison.

Vienna Palace, economic conference

Franz slapped the table directly: "The domestic economy is developing rapidly, but the gap between the rich and the poor, the regional gap, and the urban-rural gap are becoming more and more serious, and now the time has come to solve it."

If it drags on any longer, it will only be more difficult to deal with it in the future. I don't want to solve the problem 100 per cent, but I have to make sure that the situation doesn't get worse. ”

The requirements were so low that, with the current productive conditions, Franz knew that there was no way to solve these problems.

Just because you can't solve a problem doesn't mean you won't solve it. In any case, it is better to do better than not to do it, and even if you maintain the current situation, it is a great victory.

Prime Minister Felix replied stubbornly: "Your Majesty, the regional economic development is unbalanced, and the biggest problem is the limitation of natural conditions.

We can only formulate appropriate economic development policies according to local conditions. There is also a large part of the area, limited by natural conditions, industry and agriculture are not suitable for development.

Proceeding from the overall situation, we must make trade-offs between these areas and focus on developing areas that are easier to develop.

The widening gap between urban and rural areas is a worldwide problem. With the development of industrial technology, the difference between industrial and agricultural scissors will become more serious.

In the short term, the most effective way is to promote land annexation and adopt a large-scale farm production model, replacing the small-scale peasant economy in many areas.

However, this is the least desirable option. The social problems brought about by land annexation are far more serious than the widening gap between urban and rural areas.

In fact, these two issues are not the key, the most important thing is that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening, and the number of poor people is increasing.

As long as the income problem of the people at the bottom is solved, whether it is the imbalance of regional development or the widening gap between urban and rural areas, it is acceptable. ”

This is a false proposition, if we do not solve the imbalance of regional development and the gap between urban and rural areas, how can we reconcile the gap between the rich and the poor?

The three have always been mutually reinforcing, and income is different from the others, which is regulated by the market and cannot be forcibly controlled by the government.

Franz is no longer an economic novice, and he will not be naïve to think that if the government sets a higher minimum wage, everyone's income will go up.

This is impossible, each industry can afford different labor costs, and the market competitiveness of some traditional industries is cheap labor.

In later generations, so many countries played deindustrialization, in addition to the nominal excuse of "environmental protection", more developed countries have too high labor costs.

Or rather, the guild has become a tool for some people to make profits, and in order to chase a higher return on investment, the capitalists have to move factories.

Austria has not developed to that point, many capitalists are still in the stage of lying down to make money, and most of the industries are profitable.

The main reason why the income of the people at the bottom cannot rise is the supply and demand relationship in the labor market. The so-called labor cost affects market competitiveness, which is actually very nonsense.

The current labor price, labor cost actually accounts for a very low proportion. In addition to labor-intensive industries, labor costs in many industries are less than one-tenth of the price of a product.

Compared with its rival British, Austria has much cheaper labor costs and cheaper raw material costs, but the retail prices of products in the world are almost the same.

This made Franz very dissatisfied, with so many favorable conditions, the capitalists did not compete with the British for the market. Obviously, the domestic market has fed them, and everyone's enterprising spirit is no longer enough.

If this is not changed, they will have a sense of crisis and continue like this, and it is estimated that Austria will also fall into the "resource trap".

The capitalists of Britain and France in the original time and space were like this, they could make money anyway, so why should they work hard?

One by one, they all took the money and ate and had fun, without any sense of crisis at all, and finally watched the Americans and Germans surpass the past.

Changing the status quo of domestic capitalists who do not want to make progress is the core of this economic conference.

Franz: "Solving the gap between rich and poor is really the core issue, what is the government's plan? ”

Prime Minister Felix: "The easiest way to raise everyone's income in the short term is to emigrate. There was a surplus of labor in the country, but labor in the colonies was always very scarce.

We have been immigrating all these years, but not enough. In the interior, we have done very little advocacy work, and this must now be changed.

The government planned to send 10 million immigrants from the mainland to the colonies within five years. The main areas of migration this time are rural areas with high population density, as well as poor and remote areas. ”

As far as we can see, a large number of immigrants entered the colony, the relationship between supply and demand in the domestic labor market would inevitably change, and the days when the capitalists relied on cheap labor would be gone.

It's not that Franz is ruthless, it's completely forced out by reality.

The two empires of the original space-time and Germany are the best examples, with almost all resources lacking except coal and iron, and the labor costs are higher than those of the French, and there are not so many colonies to plunder, but they have developed.

The talent dividend of compulsory education is one thing, but more importantly, it is the crisis awareness of enterprises, which prompts everyone to promote technological innovation.

Austria has been carrying out compulsory education for so many years, the quality of the population is not low, and it has a richer market and resources, and there is no reason why it cannot be done.

The second industrial revolution began in Austria, and it stands to reason that with Franz's promotion, new technologies should be faster than the same period in history, but the reality is very slap in the face.

In 1875, Austria registered a new patented technology, and the royal industry accounted for one-third, and this proportion is still increasing year by year.

Franz found that the core problem was that the company's life was too comfortable. You can make money lying down, and the capitalists are simply not willing to push for technological innovation.

This is determined by interests, low labor, raw material prices, and a broad market allow them to make money without hard work.

However, the research and development of new technologies is full of uncertainties, and the investment and return may not be proportional, and everyone is not willing to take risks at all.

If there is no pressure, then it can only create pressure. This year has not yet reached the era of internationalization of capital, and Franz is not afraid of capitalists running away.

Engaging in international trade requires the endorsement of the government, and every multinational group has a government background behind it. Even so, these groups are often trapped.

There are many classic cases of this, such as: British and French capital invested in Austrian railways and infrastructure construction, but Franz took advantage of the economic crisis to get into the trap.

Another example: British capital engaged in the construction of large railways in the United States, and in the end it lost all its money.

There is a background to be pitted, that is a pit within the rules. Without a background, not to mention, there is no need to pay attention to the appearance of eating.