Sweden: A Supermodel for America?

To the American mind there may be nothing more quintessentially Swedish than the leggy, blond supermodel.

But there's another Swedish model that inspires almost as much admiration—the Swedish economic model. With a generous welfare state and high living standards, Sweden seems to prove that socialism works. Much of the hope that swept Barack Obama into the White House rests on the belief that America could reach new heights under a regime of enlightened progressivism, that we could be more like the Swedes.

Not so fast, warns Stockholm University sociologist Charlotta Stern: "If an American told me that the US should be more like Sweden I would say I don't think it's possible." The United States can centralize its health care system and pass other laws that mimic Sweden's welfare state polices, says Stern, but it's impossible to replicate a culture that allows those policies to operate about as smoothly as possible. Swedish bureaucracies inspire trust, but their American counterparts (DMV, TSA, IRS) inspire punch lines, if not outrage.

But America could emulate some of the Swedish policies that don't require extensive bureaucracies. Take school vouchers. Teachers unions in America regard the idea as free-market radicalism, but families in Sweden enjoy universal school choice. Sweden adopted its famously progressive policies during the 1970s, but after years of sluggish economic growth the land of ABBA altered its course in the 1990s, adopting a host of free-market reforms, from deregulation to tax cuts.

Although much of the disco-era welfare state remains, economist Andreas Bergh credits the free market reforms with reviving his nation's economy. "Sweden is moving in the market economic direction," says Bergh, "but that does not mean America should be moving in the socialist direction."

What if the two nations continue on in different directions? Maybe some day when America is looking for a way to rejuvenate its economy, pundits will point to a different kind of Swedish model. One that increases individual choice and competition.

"Sweden—A Supermodel for America?" is produced by Daniel B. Klein, and written and produced by Ted Balaker, who also hosts. Shot by Jonathan Liberman and Henrik Devell, with additional production support by Zach Weissmueller and Sam Corcos and post production by Hawk Jensen and Austin Bragg. Special thanks to Niclas Berggren, Martin Borgs, Nils Karlson, and the Ratio Institute.

Approximately 6.00 long.

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[aidiwashere]

Herrejävlar vad bra engelska den lilla tjejen kunde :O

[rninic]

The Swedish model is unique and would be almost impossible to emulate, because it would require a *cultural* change. Swedes have always had trust in each other and in the authorities. It is extremely difficult to accomplish and would require an outspoken long-term strategy to create that sort of trust in a society - especially where corruption is prevalent.  Anybody can take economic action, but changing people's minds...

The single most important factor of the Swedish model is its culture.

[rninic]

@scholion

If productivity and efficiency is the meaning of life, why don't you just replace yourself with a robot and go die - you are obsolete. And if it is so inefficient, how come Sweden has so many successful global companies and artists? All this from a country that is equal to a small US state. Why don't you pick any state in the US that is on similar longitude/latitude with similar population and compare; which one is more economically successful? Then look at poverty, too.

[rninic]

@SweRaider1993

No, I mean culture as a whole.

[rninic]

@SweRaider1993

I would agree that immigration has reached a limit, where it is no longer feasible to accept immigrants in large numbers.  This, in addition to placing them all together in a neighborhood has failed them and us Swedes in terms of integrating to Swedish society. They have no incentive to learn language and custom, when they don't have to interact with Swedes. The thing is that the more refugees we accept, the more political favor Sweden gets from other countries.

[SweRaider1993]

@rninic /edit/ except that number will decrease now with the overwhelming immigration...

[SweRaider1993]

@rninic when you're referring to the culture, are you mostly referring to religion? because as far as I know Sweden is the most atheistic/non religious country in the world (45-80%)

[RecognizeCommonFoe]

I live in Sweden and anyone who wants to model their country after Sweden must be an idiot or want to bring their country down.. Becaust this country is going down the drain. The anti-Swedish laws, the extreme political correctness, the pseudo-democracy where free opinion is surpressed.. Immigration runs unchecked, and so does crime and to an increasing degree unemployment and the state's finances. (soon they've sold everything to cover up the fact that there simply isn't enough money)

[socrev2012]

Private schools destroyed Sweden. Sweden grew rich because the state owned the most important industries. Now we have hell in neoliberalism, everything is worse today.

[socrev2012]

Sweden had strikes, riots and revolutions in the beginning of the 1900s too get a more socialist society. There was not much faith in the state until the socialists made a pact with the capitalists and started then to build socialism. But when we were going to take the last step on a reformist way to a socialist society and introduced wage founds the capitalists was scared. The wage founds would mean workers rule over the means of production. But capitalists won and now we have neoliberalism.

[d3f4c3d]

Sweden is like California but little cold. I love coming to that country.

[Morran09]

@jrgenkratz Vad fan har det med saken och göra? Våra kvinnor bör få klä sig hur fan dem vill, det gör det inte mer rätt att få våldta en kvinna för att dem klär sig på ett visst sätt, det är alltid den som våldtar som gör fel...