Hot Swedish Models!

Artigo de Johnny Munkhammar na Tech Central Station

There are two good Swedens to learn from: One is the hugely successful country that literally went from rags to riches between 1890 and 1950, with one of the highest growth rates in the world. This was not least thanks to a tax pressure between 10 and 20 percent of GDP, a truly limited state, with open borders and very good conditions for entrepreneurs.


Or there is the Sweden that started reforming in the 1990s. Marginal tax rates were cut, markets were deregulated, the Central Bank was made independent, public pensions were cut substantially and some free competition was allowed in health care. School vouchers were introduced -- still even controversial in the US -- and markets were deregulated, the prime example being telecom, opening up for the development of Ericsson and a something like 75 percent decrease in the price for phone calls. This led to a higher growth and increased prosperity for several years around the Millennium shift.


But there is also another Sweden, a country that one can learn much from, but should definitely not imitate. It is the country that introduced an extreme version of the European Social Model of a big state. The tax pressure was raised from 20 percent in 1950 to some 50 percent in 1980. The state monopolized welfare services and social security. The labor market was highly regulated.