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Friday, November 10, 2006

Observations on how the Nordic national model of capitalism is superior to what we've got here in America by Princeton professor of politics, Jonas Pontusson from a blog post by Jeff Madrick on The Huffington Post.

  • Examining all the rich nations, he finds no evidence that inequality of incomes is associated with higher rates of economic growth or that nations with greater wage equality are a hindrance to growth.
  • He finds no conclusive evidence that countries with large welfare states have grown more slowly than those with smaller ones.
  • Despite policies that support wages, Denmark, Norway and Sweden have a higher proportion of the working-age population employed than do other industrialized nations.
  • Despite higher taxes and government spending levels, four Nordic countries are ranked among the ten most competitive nations in the world by the World Economic Forum.
  • The Nordic nations spend a very high percentage of GDP on education, and the quality of education is rather equal. This may well contribute to economic growth.
  • Nordic nations also promote gender equality and polices that encourage women to work during child bearing. These may enable the nations to more fully utilize and develop their human capital.

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