Sweden is often held up as a role model for those wishing to expand the size of government around the world. But rather than being proof that socialism works, the Swedish experience is in fact evidence for the benefits of free markets, limited taxation, strong societal norms and robust financial institutions. Sweden historically pioneered many […]
During the corona epidemic, hardworking doctors, nurses and other health staff have saved the lives of millions around the world. But at the same time, the crisis has exposed great inefficiencies – coupled with chronic productivity problems – in the health sectors of European welfare states. Without reform, the way these countries fund their healthcare […]
With the support of the Atlas Network, CapX is publishing a new series of essays on the theme of Illiberalism in Europe, looking at the different threats to liberal economies and societies across the continent, from populism to protectionism and corruption. Why is it that people in Sweden, as well as other parts of Europe, […]
The Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson received considerable attention when he visited Stockholm recently. He was told to “crawl back under a rock” by Sweden’s Foreign Minister and engaged in a heated discussion about the paradox of gender equality in progressive societies with the leader of the Centre Party, Annie Lööf. Peterson was visiting Sweden to […]
Ahead of Sweden’s general election, all the talk was about a surge for the populist Sweden Democrats. With the final votes counted, the big surprise is how little has changed. The two big issues at the election have been immigration and integration. Previous elections have seen working class voters abandoning the Social Democrats for the […]
Sweden’s elections at the beginning of September will attract a great deal of international attention. A country that for decades has been a bastion of social democracy is witnessing a collapse of the socialist movement. While Sweden has been admired internationally for its knowledge economy and good social outcomes, rising crime and social tensions have […]
The pyramids of Egypt are astonishing feats of human engineering. The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest structure in the world built by man for more than 3,800 years. Most structures built today would collapse if left unattended for several hundred years, yet the pyramids have survived for millennia. A question that baffles many […]
Ideas change the world. A good example of this is how the global view of taxation quietly began shifting one afternoon in 1974. That afternoon, the American economist Arthur Laffer met with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who both were working for the Nixon-Ford Administration at the time. The topic at hand was taxes, a […]
What is capitalism? According to our modern understanding, capitalism is a relatively new idea, and the intellectual foundations for a free market model can be traced to the 18th century philosopher Adam Smith. However, this narrative about the development of free markets is fundamentally flawed. Far from being a recent innovation, enterprises, banks, advanced commercial practices […]
How should we deal with governments that act in a bad way, for example by attacking their neighbours? Today an increasingly popular tool that governments turn to is economic sanctions. This makes some sense: it is an easy choice and shows that politicians are doing something. The problem is that sanctions often have the opposite […]
Ever since the news broke that Sweden was experimenting with a six-hour working day, at an elderly care centre in the city of Gothenburg, the world has been watching, agog. Would it save money by increasing productivity and reducing workplace sickness? Could this be a new model for progressives around the world to strive for? […]
On Thursday morning Stockholm was covered with at least 30 centimetres of snow. According to the Swedish national weather agency SMHI this is more than any other November day since records began in 1905. This freak of nature disrupted the daily lives of those living in Sweden’s capital. Part of the blame for the difficulties […]
Since the 1990s, Sweden has had a thriving welfare sector in which private firms, through vouchers or public contracts, carry out the provision of many welfare services. This has worked out well overall, as the for-profit schools, care for the elderly and health services are popular with the general public. Additionally, the public sector can […]
Former US President Bill Clinton made the promise to move away from overly generous welfare policies, since they risked trapping families in welfare dependency rather than help them climb the social ladder. “I have a plan to end welfare as we know it”, Clinton explained in a TV spot during his campaign for office. Twenty […]
We should have man-free zones in schools, parks, youth activity centers and other places where many people gather. This is the suggestion put forward by rapper Linda Pira to Göteborgs-Posten, the daily paper of Sweden’s second largest city Gothenburg. While the idea might seem extreme, it is not entirely out of place in the current […]
Recently Business Insider ranked the 19 countries around the world which have the best reputation, in terms of being nice countries with thriving economies. Not surprisingly, Sweden topped the list. The magazine explained: “Sweden has it all: high-quality exports, a tolerant society, low crime, beautiful cities to visit, a high standard of living, a mild […]
Sweden is officially the “goodest” country in which one can live in. At least this is true according to the Good Country Index, a league table based on 35 different indicators of how a nation contributes to a better world. Sweden not only has the highest total score amongst the countries in the world, but […]
Since I wrote last week’s column, my book “Debunking Utopia – Exposing the Myth of Nordic Socialism” has sailed up as Amazon’s best-selling new book in political philosophy. But why are Americans and others who don’t themselves live in the Nordics buying a book about the short-comings of Nordic-style democratic socialism? It seems that one important reason is […]
The new American Dream is to be found in Denmark, at least according to the American left. As the support for free-markets is falling, many Americans turn to the vision of introducing democratic socialism, inspired by the Nordic countries. It was the quest of introducing a Nordic-style welfare model that propelled Bernie Sanders, an unlikely […]
Mary Perkins is one of the few individuals in the UK who has amassed a billion-dollar fortune through entrepreneurship. An optometrist by trade, Mary bought her father’s optician business decades ago together with her husband Douglas. This was the start of the optical chain Specsavers, which has steadily grown to become the world’s largest private […]
