Jun

8

 "After the Keynesian financial and monetary stimulus in the 1970s and '80s, which led to inflation, repeated devaluations and low growth, Swedes believe in fiscal discipline. They are scared of huge national debt and budget deficits — especially at the levels they are in the U.S."

Do the Swedes on site have further remarks? The author, Anders Åslund, has an impressive bio. Would you recommend his books?

By Anders Aslund June 7 (Bloomberg) 

Not so long ago, Sweden could claim world leadership in unmitigated Keynesian economics, with a 90 percent marginal tax rate and a welfare state second to none. Now Swedes look at the conflict between the U.S. and German examples over whether more spending or more austerity is the key to financial salvation, and for them the choice is easy: Germany was right. Northern Europe harbors no sympathy for the spendthrifts of Southern Europe. Americans still think of Sweden as a tightly regulated social-welfare state, but in the last two decades the country has been reformed. Public spending has fallen by no less than one-fifth of gross domestic product, taxes have dropped and markets have opened up.

The situation is similar in the other Scandinavian countries, the Baltic nations and Poland. But no turnabout has been as dramatic as Sweden's.

Read the full article here: "Booming Sweden's Free Market Solution". 


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  1. Andre Wallin on June 9, 2012 2:10 pm

    my parents left sweden in 1979 due partially to my dad’s dislike for Olof Palme. he has been extremely disciplined and hard working his whole life and he was frustrated by the indifference to hard work in Sweden during that time. he has a very conservative attitude towards risk especially compared to Americans. Despite his conservatism he has done extremely well and is the epitome of a successful immigrant who has taken advantage of the American system. however, his greatest success came in combination with a business partner of Italian descent and bigger risk taker. The world stands to gain the most when there is a constant feed back loop of risk taking and conservatism. the world needs different systems working in difficult harmony in order to push human beings to reach their full potential.

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