Abi discovers Sweden

No one was as thrilled to discover a country since Columbus discovered Amerca. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, comminists have had trouble finding fairy tales of happy commie kids singing lores of equality and "freedom". For a while China sufficed, but soon detractors called the bluff. Not only about half of China live in dire straits, the rest are essentially progressing because of a test tube version of capitalism. Strikes are a big weapon in the commie arsenal, except when they run the country, in which case they are banned. Dissenters are thrown into cages of wild animals. Ok, I made that one up.

Quite expectedly the desi commie community are looking elsewhere. Their recent discoveries include Chile and Sweden.

Abi writes:

Of course, its ideology makes the Economist try very hard indeed to trash this model. However, if you read between the lines (and you don't really have to try that hard!), it's quite clear that the choices facing the Swedish people are between different versions of the Welfare State; the Swedish model is in no danger of being dismantled.

We have been urging Abi to stick to what he knows best, i.e. materials science, because venturing into the murky territory of economics has its dangers. We are unsure whether it is plain ignorance or a propensity to spin propaganda which made Abi ignore large portions of the said article from the economist magazine. Because the portions Abi chose to ignore contain some serious indictment to Sweden's welfare statism.

Some examples (requires subscription):

In truth, the Swedish economy's best years are long gone. Between 1870 and 1950, average growth in Swedish GDP and productivity was, by some measures, the fastest in the world. In 1970 Sweden was the fourth-richest member of the OECDclub of industrial countries. But for most of the past 50 years the story has been one of relative decline, including a deep recession in the early 1990s (see chart 1).

Also:

Where will all this leave the much-trumpeted Swedish model? Most Swedes are weary of listening to foreign claims about the perfection of their society. Mr Lindbeck suggests that, where it does have economic strengths, they are of an essentially Anglo-American, market variety. Johnny Munkhammar, who runs a pro-market think-tank, Timbro, argues similarly that history shows Sweden's economy to have flourished when it has been more liberal and low-tax—and to have gone off the rails when higher taxes and more regulation have been imposed.

The version of Sweden the great welfare state that Abi conjures up (complete with socialism and Swedish blondes on the arms of materials science professors) resides only in his mind. Welfare in that context merely means job security and health and retirement benefits. In India of course it means complete blockage of anyone's ability to carry out economic activities. Sweden is decades away in terms of economic freedom and openness to global trade (remember Bofors?) and with ministers like Kamal Nath and PC seems to be basically out of reach.