Editor's Note: Guest-bloggers are back! This week we're proud to have K.A. Geier.
First off, let me just say that I'm delighted to be guest blogging here on Tapped this week. If you're interested in reading more of my stuff, do visit my personal blog, The G Spot.
Megan McArdle's recent post on the cultural sustainability of the welfare state unfortunately promulgates some misconceptions about Swedish social democracy.
For one thing, McArdle alludes to Sweden's "homogeneous population." Actually, Sweden's population is far more diverse than popular myth would have it. I'll quote a recent post by blogger and political science professor Lane Kenworthy to back me up on this point:
Those skeptical about the applicability of Swedish policies andinstitutions often argue that to the extent Sweden “works,” it'sbecause it has an extremely homogeneous population. That was likelytrue half a century ago, but these days Sweden's immigrant (foreign-born) share is virtually identical to America’s, at about 13% of the population.
Obviously, Sweden does not have the same degree of racial diversity as the U.S. does, but its population is far from "homogeneous."
McArdle goes on to write:
Sweden's rates of long term disability, sick leave, and so forth, arevery high. The Scandinavians I know generally report that theonce-famous work ethic is not really all that impressive any more, andthere's little stigma attached to malingering on long-term sick leave.
Scandinavians McArdle knows may indeed say all manner of things, but anecdotes are not data, and I don't think it would be a wild stretch to assume that McArdle's Scandinavian friends might be something of a self-selected (and hence unrepresentative) group. Kenworthy again:
The country has a strong work ethos. The welfare state is generous, but most able-bodied Swedes of working age are expected to be employed. During the 2000s the Swedish employment rate has averaged about 74% of the working-age population, two percentage points higher than in the United States. The share of working-age Swedish households with no employed adult is 5%, the same as in the U.S.
If McArdle knows of empirical evidence that measures a decline in the Swedish worth ethic, I'd be happy to consider it. But unless she presents persuasive evidence to back up her claim, I'm going with Kenworthy here.
Do read the rest of Kenworthy's post, which discusses some surprising facts about Swedish social democracy. On the one hand, Sweden is more market-friendly than you might assume. Swedes have embraced globalization, the Swedish economy is competitive, the school system offers choice, and pensions are partially privatized. On the other hand, Swedish society has high levels of mobility, and the poor there are better off than the poor in America in both absolute and relative terms.
All in all, that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. The Swedish experience is also consistent with evidence from other Nordic countries that thriving markets and high levels of economic competition do not necessarily conflict with with economic equality and strong social democracy.
--K.A. Geier
