> Financial Times - October 5, 2000
> COMMENT & ANALYSIS: Being flexible about flexibility: Europe does not
> need to abandon social democracy to match the economic performance of
> the US, argues Leif Pagro
>
> Nowhere is investment in information and communications technology as
> high as it is in Sweden. According to The International Data
> Corporation/WorldTimes Information Society Index, Sweden last year
> overtook the US as the world's leading information technology nation.
Pretty cool to see Soc Dem get some positive press, but it's worth noting that the OECD stats on overall investment show Sweden investing less as a % of GDP than Central Europe. Average fixed capital formation as a percentage of gross domestic product from 1990 to 1999 (unless otherwise stated) from the OECD Quarterly National Accounts:
Country Average ------------------------ South Korea 34.2% Japan 29.1% Czech Rep. 28.0% (1994-99) Turkey 27.7% Switzerland 25.7% Portugal 24.9% (through 1998) Austria 23.6% (1995-99) Australia 22.7% Germany 22.4% (1991-99) Spain 22.4% (1995-99) Netherlands 21.0% Belgium 20.8% France 19.7% Italy 19.2% Denmark 18.9% Finland 18.8% Canada 18.5% USA 18.4% UK 17.2% Sweden 15.6% (1993-1999)
Far from investing too much, the Swedish state was arguably investing *too little* in the economy. Fortunately, Sweden has one of the highest R&D investment rates in the world (3.8%, higher than Japan), so presumably they're getting by on high-tech rents to the EU and USA.
-- Dennis