the Scandinavian Miracle

Originally posted by zeeblebot
i got to ask myself, who's right? wikipedia, or FF, Seitse, and BdN?

All of them. Wiki's pretty clear:

Scandinavia[1] is a region in northern Europe that includes Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The second sentence is:

Finland is often considered a Scandinavian country in common English usage, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands are sometimes also included.

Just because some consider them Scandanavian does not mean that they are.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
All of them. Wiki's pretty clear:

Scandinavia[1] is a region in northern Europe that includes Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The second sentence is:

Finland is often considered a Scandinavian country in common English usage, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands are sometimes also included.

Just because some consider them Scandanavian does not mean that they are.

I am.

Originally posted by zeeblebot
the SM is bought with foreign debt.

Looking up the "Nordic Model" on wiki, I see that the "Scandanavian Miracle" is due to adopting MILTON FRIEDMAN'S ideas:

- Strong property rights, contract enforcement, and overall ease of doing business.[2]
- Low barriers to free trade.[2]
- Little product market regulation. Nordic countries rank very high in product market freedom according to OECD rankings.[3]
- Little financial market regulation. Denmark and Finland have the lowest regulation burden in EU-15 according to OECD rankings.[3]
- All Nordics have been pioneers in privatization alongside competitive public services. For instance, Sweden privatized education with education vouchers in 1992.[4]
- Pension systems are privatized. Systems have higher pension funding rates than in most European countries. They still have deficits, however.

All of these things are mentioned in "Free to Choose". So the "Scandanavian Miracle" is explained partly by good ol' capitalism!

True, these nations also have high taxes (relatively) and lots of social programs. So they could probably be doing even better. But hey, when you limit immigration (unlike your neighbors), wages stay high. And a lower percent of a better wage can still buy more Big Macs!

Originally posted by spruce112358

True, these nations also have high taxes (relatively) and lots of social programs. So they could probably be doing even better. But hey, when you limit immigration (unlike your neighbors), wages stay high. And a lower percent of a better wage can still buy more Big Macs!

What?

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
What?

Take a deep breath ...

Originally posted by spruce112358
Looking up the "Nordic Model" on wiki, I see that the "Scandanavian Miracle" is due to adopting MILTON FRIEDMAN'S ideas:

- Strong property rights, contract enforcement, and overall ease of doing business.[2]
- Low barriers to free trade.[2]
- Little product market regulation. Nordic countries rank very high in product market freedom according to ...[text shortened]... s), wages stay high. And a lower percent of a better wage can still buy more Big Macs!

Wow!

I can see you´ve never lived in a Scandinavian country!

Originally posted by Wheely
Wow!

I can see you´ve never lived in a Scandinavian country!

Lulz, spot on.

Maybe he visited Detroit and was told that it was part of Scandinavia.

😛

Wow, you guys are out of practice.

Originally posted by zeeblebot
Newsweek this week has a possibly more up-to-date table, for foreign debt per capita, on the back page this week but i couldn't find an online version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt

Rank ↓ Country - Entity ↓ External debt
(millions US$) ↓ Date of information ↓ External debt
per capit ...[text shortened]... cember 2007 est. 126.03%
13 Canada $781,100 12/31/2008 $23,325 01-Jul-09 59.69%

...

I don't get it. The US is at the smack top of the list, and the only reason per capita is lower for the US
than many other countries is the incredible amount of US citizens. What's your point in all this? How
does the foreign debt in any way signal the success/failure of an economic model in and of itself?

Originally posted by spruce112358
Wow, you guys are out of practice.

Well I know I am!

The points you raised are so at odds with my experience of actually living in Scandinavia that I read your Wiki article and was somewhat relieved to note the long list of issues with it mentioned at the top.

The list of business related things you just don´t bother with here is quite long. However, when everybody leaves the office at 3:00pm on a Friday to drive up to their cabins and pick berries, ski or just bounce up and down on trampolines, you kind of don´t care either.

Originally posted by Wheely
Well I know I am!

The points you raised are so at odds with my experience of actually living in Scandinavia that I read your Wiki article and was somewhat relieved to note the long list of issues with it mentioned at the top.

The list of business related things you just don´t bother with here is quite long. However, when everybody leaves the office at ...[text shortened]... and pick berries, ski or just bounce up and down on trampolines, you kind of don´t care either.

Nothing wrong with working smarter instead of harder. Getting most of the incentives pointed in the right direction counts for a lot. Not many societies achieve that.