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The Rise, Fall and Revival of a Capitalist Welfare State: What are the Policy Lessons from Sweden

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Abstract

This paper discusses a number of questions with regard to Sweden’s economic and political development: How did Sweden become rich? What explains Sweden’s high level of income equality? What were the causes of Sweden’s problems from 1970 to 1995? How is it possible that Sweden, since the crisis of the early 1990s, is growing faster than most EU countries despite its high taxes and generous welfare state? These questions are analyzed using recent insights from institutional economics, as well as studies of inequality and economic growth. The main conclusion is that there is little, if any, Swedish exceptionalism: Sweden became rich because of well-functioning capitalist institutions, and inequality was low before the expansion of the welfare state. The recent favorable growth record of Sweden, including the period of financial stress (2008–2010), is a likely outcome of a number of far-reaching structural reforms implemented in the 1980s and 90s.

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  • Bergh, Andreas, 2011. "The Rise, Fall and Revival of a Capitalist Welfare State: What are the Policy Lessons from Sweden," Working Paper Series 873, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0873
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    1. De Gregorio, Jose & Guidotti, Pablo E., 1995. "Financial development and economic growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 433-448, March.
    2. Björklund, Anders & Roine, Jesper & Waldenström, Daniel, 2008. "Intergenerational top income mobility in Sweden – A combination of equal opportunity and capitalistic dynasties," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 705, Stockholm School of Economics.
    3. Xavier Sala-I-Martin & Gernot Doppelhofer & Ronald I. Miller, 2004. "Determinants of Long-Term Growth: A Bayesian Averaging of Classical Estimates (BACE) Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 813-835, September.
    4. Romero-Ávila, Diego & Strauch, Rolf, 2008. "Public finances and long-term growth in Europe: Evidence from a panel data analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 172-191, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Tamilina, Larysa & Tamilina, Natalya, 2018. "Four faces of marginalization: Variations in institutional frameworks of welfare state provisions and social trust in Europe," MPRA Paper 93560, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Pontus Braunerhjelm & Magnus Henrekson, 2013. "Entrepreneurship, institutions, and economic dynamism: lessons from a comparison of the United States and Sweden," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(1), pages 107-130, February.
    3. Berggren, Niclas & Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Hellström, Jörgen, 2014. "Social trust and central-bank independence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 425-439.
    4. Vlad Tarko & Ryan Safner, 2022. "International regulatory diversity over 50 years: political entrepreneurship within fiscal constraints," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 193(1), pages 79-108, October.
    5. Larysa Tamilina & Natalya Tamilina, 2022. "Four Faces of Marginalisation: Variations in Institutional Frameworks of Welfare State Provisions and Social Trust in Europe," Arthaniti: Journal of Economic Theory and Practice, , vol. 21(1), pages 65-92, June.
    6. Erik Bengtsson, 2014. "Labour's share in twentieth-century Sweden: a reinterpretation," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(3), pages 290-314, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sweden; Welfare state; Equality; Growth; Institutions; Capitalism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

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