Swedish Capitalism

Many.posts have dealt with international perspectives.

Tom Fairless at WSJ:

For decades, Sweden was shorthand for the brand of high-tax, high-spend government that managed people’s lives from cradle to grave through state-run hospitals, schools and care homes.

No longer. With little fanfare, this Nordic country of 11 million has embraced capitalism.

Today, nearly half of primary healthcare clinics are privately owned, many by private-equity firms. One in three public high schools is privately run, up from 20% in 2011. School operators are listed on the stock exchange.

Sweden’s experience has lessons—good and bad—for other rich countries, including the U.S., where New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is looking to emulate parts of the state-centric model such as universal child care and city-run stores.

The capitalist makeover has allowed Sweden to do what few industrialized countries have managed in recent years: shrink the size of the state. That has enabled the government to sharply lower taxes and, economists say, sparked a surge in entrepreneurship and economic growth.

Its total public social spending bill—which includes healthcare, education and all welfare payments—has fallen to 24% of gross domestic product, similar to the U.S. and well below the over 30% for nations like France and Italy.

Capitalism, Socialism, and Public Opinion 2021

 Jeffrey M. Jones at Gallup:

Majorities of Republicans and Democrats have positive opinions of capitalism, but Republicans rate it higher. Whereas roughly seven in 10 Republicans and Republican leaners have viewed capitalism positively since 2010, about half of Democrats have done so. This year, 72% of Republicans and 52% of Democrats have a positive image of capitalism.

The two partisan groups' opinions of socialism diverge even more, with 14% of Republicans and 65% of Democrats saying they have a positive image of it. Democrats' opinions of socialism have gotten slightly more positive over the years, moving from 53% in 2010 and 2012 to over 60% in the past two surveys. Republicans have become slightly less positive toward socialism than they were in the initial surveys.

This Place Doesn't Turn Out Socialists

"This place doesn't turn out socialists."  -- Soviet agent Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) in the pilot of The Americans.

Gallup finds that 96 percent of Americans have a positive image of small business, and only 25 percent have a positive image of socialism.

Even though Bernie Sanders, a self-described "Democratic socialist," has generated strong support for his presidential campaign, Americans' image of socialism is no better now than it was six years ago. Thirty-five percent of Americans have a positive view of the term socialism, similar to what was found in 2012 and 2010. The 60% who have a positive view of capitalism is also unchanged from six years ago.

Capitalism, Socialism, and Public Opinion, 2015

YouGov reports:

YouGov's latest research shows that when Americans are asked whether they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of socialism and capitalism, capitalism comes out on top. 52% of Americans have a favorable view of capitalism, while only 26% have a favorable view of socialism. Among younger Americans, however, attitudes are a lot more divided. 36% of under-30s have a positive view of socialism, while 39% have a positive view of capitalism. Among over-65s, who came of age at the height of the Cold War, only 15% look upon socialism favorably while 59% have a like capitalism.

Democrats (43%) are also much more likely than either independents (22%) or Republicans (9%) to have a favorable view of socialism. Democrats, in fact, are as likely to have a favorable view of capitalism (43%) as socialism. While only 9% of Republicans see socialism in a positive light, 79% have a good view of capitalism.

Some caution is in order.  It is likely that many respondents have only a hazy understanding of what the terms mean.

Democrats and Republicans Diverge on Key Terms

Previous posts have looked at the way Americans react to various terms in economics and politics. Gallup reports:

Exemplifying a major partisan divide in modern politics, Democrats react significantly more positively to the term "federal government" than they do to the term "capitalism," while the opposite is true for Republicans. But both Democrats and Republicans are highly positive about the terms "small business," "free enterprise," and "entrepreneurs."

These findings are based on a Nov. 18-19 update of a January 2010 Gallup poll question asking respondents if they had a positive or negative image of each of seven economically related terms.

 

Capitalism, Socialism, and Public Opinion

In our chapter on civic culture, we note that American individualism has historically translated into a reluctance to embrace socialism. We also mention this point in our chapter on economic policy. New data from Gallup confirm the point:

Socialism" was one of seven terms included in a Jan. 26-27 Gallup poll. Americans were asked to indicate whether their top-of-mind reactions to each were positive or negative. Respondents were not given explanations or descriptions of the terms.

Americans are almost uniformly positive in their reactions to three terms: small business, free enterprise, and entrepreneurs. They are divided on big business and the federal government, with roughly as many Americans saying their view is positive as say it is negative. Americans are more positive than negative on capitalism (61% versus 33%) and more negative than positive on socialism (36% to 58%).

But in our chapter on public opinion, we note that pollsters must be cautious about assuming that the public has a great deal of knowledge about political terms. Gallup notes:

Exactly how Americans define "socialism" or what exactly they think of when they hear the word is not known. The research simply measures Americans' reactions when a survey interviewer reads the word to them -- an exercise that helps shed light on connotations associated with this frequently used term.