Posted on 04/13/2011 8:20:44 AM PDT by flowerplough
...Last year I read at Newgeography.com an article by two Scandinavian economists, Nima Sanandaji (president of the Swedish think tank Captus) and Robert Gidehag (president of the Swedish Taxpayer’s Association). They recalled how one of their colleagues tried to tease Milton Friedman: “In Scandinavia we have no poverty.” With his typical sense of humor, Friedman replied, “That’s interesting, because in America among Scandinavians, we have no poverty either.”
To those who are quick to attribute income equality and the long life spans of Sweden to the dominant tax-and-spend social democratic policies of the 20th century, Sanandaji and Gidehag point out that the country performed well in those two areas before the rise of the welfare state. A possible sociological explanation is “strong work ethic and high levels of trust and cooperation.” Such cultural characteristics not only do not get stifled when Scandinavians immigrate to the supposedly inferior individualistic capitalism of the United States, they provide tremendous advantages. While poverty rates among Swedish Americans are the same as the poverty rates in Sweden itself, the vast majority of the descendents of those who moved from Scandinavia to our Midwest are doing spectacularly well. According to Sanandaji and Gidehag, “If Americans with Swedish ancestry would form their own country their per capita GDP would be $56,900, more than $10,000 above the earnings of the average American.”
The lessons are not too difficult to get—welfare is not the source of social strengths, it is the people’s stock of physical, human, entrepreneurial, and social capital that can support a wasteful social democracy. Sanandaji and Gidehag’s conclusion: “When it comes to economic policy and copying Swedish institutions, Americans are probably better off being inspired by Swedes in America, rather than Swedes in Sweden.”
(Excerpt) Read more at online.worldmag.com ...
Imagine that.....people taking care of themselves.
What a concept.
Pinging our resident Swede for input.
That would be P.J. O'Rourke.
In other words, Swedes are wealthy not because of their welfare system, but because, well, they’re Swedes.
It’s the culture and values that make the people.
Which leads to the fact that immigration from the third world and Muslim world is damaging to both the US AND Sweden, as well as the entire Western world.
that’s racist...or something...
“In Scandinavia we have no poverty
One can trade his freedom for security any time and it will work for a while.....but the clock is ticking...Maggie Thatcher had it right ...sooner or later you run out of other peoples money.
Very interesting. Back in the day (’40s and before) economists speculated about climate having an effect on development/poverty, economy. It was dumped as irrelevant (Inuit, Ecuadorians, Nepalese, and Scandanavia’s own Sammi (Laplanders) come to mind). Still, its a fact that in Northern Europe at least, very (very) few are poor—and haven’t been (comparatively...except for in war-time) for hundreds of years.
I think its fair to say, just as in bodily disease a number of factors come into play (lifestyle, family history, income/level of medical care, diet, religion, etc.) so too in cultures a number of things come into play—not the least of which is a Protestant work ethic...which seems to linger on even after its Christianity has washed out.
I’d sure bet on Germany and Scandinavia for the next 50 years of European history over Greece, Spain, Italy and France...and even the UK (due to mass immigration).
Hmmm. GDP is an average related to the gross output and the gross population or something similar, which means that there are a whole bunch of people above the imaginary number and below as well. How many ethnic groups fall above or below? Be interesting to see ethnically and or racially where the “problems” are.... Oh, that would be non-PC, though, shame on me for attribution!
Sorry, early day today. :-)
I'm sure it's accurate to say that despite their socialism, Scandinavia (and Germany too...)is using proportionately a LOT LESS of "other peoples' (countries) money" (think US Bonds owned by China and our massive deficits) than the USA is...
That like the FBI crime stats reports placing Hispanics in their own victim group but lumping them in with whites when reporting them as a criminal group. Example: 10 Hispanics were reported as victims of crimes and 3 whites were victims, but the report says 13 whites did the crime, when really 11 Hispanics and 2 whites did the crimes.
How is Poverty defined? Are there wealthy, too, in Sweden? Is there Freedom over there in Sweden? Am I assumed to know something about Sweden, their government, their economy, and their society? Despite being of Swedish ancestry, I don’t.
Much the same reason why you didn't see looting after Sendai, but you did in Nawlins after Katrina.
This would reveal the Amish problem...
and haven’t been (comparatively...except for in war-time) for hundreds of years.
There is something in a society's willingness to accept and embrace new technology too.
IQ and the Wealth of Nations is a controversial 2002 book by Dr. Richard Lynn, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, and Dr. Tatu Vanhanen, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. This book argues that differences in national income (in the form of per capita gross domestic product) correlate with, and can be at least partially attributed to, differences in average national IQ.
Besides, my ancestor was booted out of Sweden in 1640 for chopping down trees in the Queen’s forest, so .... F*(% the Swedes, ... and their trees, too.
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