The reality is to you get way more benefit from attracting a multinational company to shift its revenue to you for tax purposes when you're a (very) small state. This strategy simply isn't available to you when you're the US (which already has major bases for all these companies, it's just not that big compared with their budget)

I can’t help but notice the absence of a “how shitty is this country for the average person” dimension.

E.g. which of these countries has any kind of youth culture to speak of?

Ireland, but the worsening economic inequality is wearing away at the edges of it from what I could tell on my last visit.

If you're the outdoorsy type, Switzerland.