How Socialist Are the Scandinavian Countries?

By Walter Block. Walter Block is the Chair in Economics at Loyola University, New Orleans. Excerpt:

"In actual point of fact, these four nations are amongst the most capitalist on the entire planet. In my book Economic Freedom of the World, 1975-1995 published by The Fraser Institute, we rated the economic freedom of 101 countries. Our study was based on such considerations as tariffs, regulation, taxation, transfers, subsidies, bailouts, conscription, etc. The lower the level, or absence in the latter case of these variables, the more economic freedom there would be. We also took into consideration limitations on owning bank accounts, price controls and government-operated enterprises in our calculations. We used 17 different criteria, under the four categories of money and inflation, government operation and regulations, takings and discriminatory taxation and international trade. Our observations were based on the statistics garnered from 102 different countries.

Our thesis was that the freest nations would be the most prosperous, and the least free the poorest, which was fully borne out. Here is a list of the ten freest countries, in order: Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, the United States, Switzerland, Malaysia, Britain, Thailand, Canada, Japan. Here are the ten least free nations: Zaire, Algeria, Iran, Syria, Haiti, Romania, Ivory Coast, Burundi, Brazil, Nicaragua.

Where oh where do the Scandinavian countries place in these sweepstakes? Well, Denmark takes 33^rd place, Norway 41^st, Finland 46^th and Sweden 48^th. Note, all were in the top half of our distribution.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The above statistics cover only the period 1975-1995. What has been happening since then? After the book I mentioned above was published, numerous follow up volumes appeared. Slight changes were made in the number of criteria defining economic theory, and, additional countries were added to the mix. How, pray tell, did the Scandinavian nations fare in subsequent evaluations? Better and better and better. Take that, Bernie.

For example, the 2010 report featured no fewer than 141 countries. This places any nation ranking 35^th or better (e.g., lower) in the top quartile. Finland claimed 19^th place, Norway 31^st and Sweden just missed the top one quarter of the distribution at 37^th. Socialism, Bernie style? Not at all.

Denmark just missed the top 10, coming in at a pretty brisk14^th place.  They ranked not only in the top quartile but, actually in the very highest decile; they have one of the freest economies on the globe. By the way, the United States had sunk to 6^th place by this time.

And what of 2015? Then, there were 159 countries surveyed, rendering a 40^th position or better in the top 25 percent of nations. Denmark hit the mark at 15^th, Finland tied with Latvia for 17^th, Norway came in at 25^th place, and “socialist” Sweden crossed the finish line at 27^th position. .For those who are still counting, the United States fell to a tie for 11^th place with “socialist” Canada in 2015."