The Mirage of Swedish Socialism

About this book

Much of what the outside world thinks it knows about the Swedish model is wrong. When American politicians like Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez are asked to name an example of a successful socialist economy, they often point to Sweden.But Sweden only began to experiment with socialist ideas after it was already one of the world’s most successful societies. Its success was based on a free market model developed after an episode of radical liberalization between 1840 and 1870 and the rapid growth it unleashed. As early as 1950 Sweden was the fourth richest economy in the world, and it was also one of the freest, with public spending below 20 percent of GDP. Government was smaller than in other Western European countries and taxes were slightly lower than in the United States.Only in the 1970s and 1980s did Sweden expand government dramatically with more spending, taxation, and regulation. It is reasonable to say that during this time Sweden was moving towards socialism. But that was an aberration in Sweden’s history, an aberration that was not associated with success. On the contrary, this was the one period in modern economic history when Sweden lagged behind other industrialized countries.