Unexpected productivity boost of Rust

> Don't most of the benefits just come down to using a statically typed and thus compiled language? Be it Java, Go or C++; TypeScript is trickier, because it compiles to JavaScript and inherits some issues, but it's still fine.

No. You have to have a certain amount of basic functionality in your type system; in particular, sum types, which surprisingly many languages still lack.

(Note that static typing does not require compilation or vice versa)

> I know that Rust provides some additional compile-time checks because of its stricter type system, but it doesn't come for free - it's harder to learn and arguably to read

ML-family languages are generally easier to learn and read if you start from them. It's just familiarity.