Word: sweden
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Above all, perhaps, there is increasing concern that the samhället-the unique collective society created by Sweden's own brand of socialism-has fostered both a bureaucracy and a mentality that put security ahead of initiative, welfare ahead of opportunity and to envelop life in a cocoon of red tape. It was the labyrinth of tax regulations administered by a stern bureaucracy that prompted the self-exile of one of Sweden's most creative citizens: Writer-Director Ingmar Bergman, 58, who settled in Hollywood in April after suffering a nervous breakdown brought on by his arrest...
...samhället is the creation of Sweden's Social Democratic Party, now headed by Prime Minister Olof Palme, which has ruled the country (sometimes with coalition partners) for the past 44 years. Scarcely Marxist, the party long ago discarded belief in class warfare and state ownership of the means of production. Sweden's socialism has encouraged continued capitalist ownership of enterprises (90% of industry is in private hands) and private investment in new areas of production...
...government has severely curtailed the discretion of Sweden's capitalists in using their wealth and managing their businesses. Observes Stockholm University Jurist Gustaf Lindencrona: "As long as you use your money to raise productivity, the government won't do anything against it. But if people want to consume their money, the government will keep them from doing it." The aim has been to foster what the Social Democrats call "social" rather than "antisocial" uses of ownership. This will be furthered by legislation that takes effect next year, encouraging all management decisions to be subject to collective bargaining with...
Special Conditions. Sweden's hybrid economy rode out the recent worldwide recession rather well. The Swedish gross national product grew (albeit modestly), and unemployment was minimal (49,000, or 1.2% of the labor force, as of last May). The success of Stockholm's antirecession measures (like subsidizing production for stockpiles in order to keep employment high) was praised as an example of adroit fine tuning by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Yet the price Sweden paid for combatting unemployment this way was a sharp decline in productivity and a high rate of inflation (currently about...
Moreover, it is questionable whether Sweden's techniques can be exported. Reports TIME Bonn Correspondent Gisela Bolte: "For the Swedish system to work requires Swedish conditions. It is a small country on the periphery of Europe (it has not been involved in a war for 160 years) with a homogeneous population. Not only do Swedes trust one another, they also trust their government. Labor and business cooperate so smoothly that strikes are virtually unknown, and the unions have not resisted structural changes in the economy. Key decisions are made in personal contacts among a small number of government, labor...