Forum Post: the nordic economic model
Posted 13 years ago on Sept. 23, 2011, 4:50 p.m. EST by ronimacarroni
(1089)
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I've been looking up information on countries such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark,etc... and they seem to be doing great. They have a high standard of living and while nations around the world are struggling they're mostly unaffected. I've thought about it and it kind of makes sense. I tend to think of the world as shades of gray instead of black and white. Pure capitalism or pure communism are bad, but if you balance the two just right you get the perfect system. Why don't countries just copy what they're doing?
Careful on your assumptions...
Sweeden's economy is down 4% with 8.3% unemployment. Denmark is down 5% with 6% unemployment. Lower employment thanks to its more capitalist friendly environment. Norway is good only because of it's use of natural resources. They account for 25% of GDP and pays for their massive pension fund, taking the burden off employers and workers. Want to know why unemployment is low? Cause it is literally impossible to terminate an employee. "The requirements for what constitutes a warranted termination are very strict. It is for instance not in itself enough that the employee performs below expectations or below average."
The most economically free and capitalist friendly country is Hong Kong. GDP up 7%, unemployment at 5%. And they have a higher Gini Index (wealth disparity). And has far outpaced Nordic models.
http://www.heritage.org/Index/topten
These are small, homgenious countries, unlike the US, which is made up of many different ethnic groups spread over a large landscape. When everyone belongs to the same tribe, it is difficult to discriminate. Moreover, Norway has vast oil wealth whose benefits acrue to a small population. While those models are admirable, they would not work in the US.
These are some of the happiest countries in the world. We certainly have enough money to be this happy and I disagree that our diversity would somehow stop us from doing so. We can learn a lot from these model cultures and it's not yet fact what exactly makes them happy. There are some obvious things like these are extremely peaceful countries, tons of social services and worker's rights are king. I'm going to make it a point to see if I can find out more about these cultures as well and see what other features might explain it.