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The Nordics live atop an ocean of oil they sell that provides 20% of their GDP. This is hardly a situation other countries can replicate.
P.S. I want to spend a summer sometime touring Norway and its astonishing beauty.
Norway has alot of oil, Sweden for example, does not export any oil at all.
And of course, there is nothing unique about oil as a form of capital. Many forms of capital exist, all of which generate income that can be used for similar purposes.
I'm still sceptical if there even exists a successful welfare state that does not rely on natural resources, or the aftermath of some war.
Sweden has implemented a LOT of trickle down economy tax breaks for the wealthy people during the 2000s, such as completely getting rid of property tax, wealth tax, inheritance tax. Just to keep money in the country.
At the same time, the working people of the middle class are taxed really high, and that's used to show the world how equal Sweden is, while conveniently ignoring the tax breaks for the wealthy.
Redistribution always has a price, it's not like Sweden has invented a superior system that creates value out of thin air, Sweden has the poorest doctors and programmers of all the western nations, and people love to talk about equality but when they actually consider Sweden and find out that their salary will be 50% they go to another country.
Maybe not experiencing a terribly high brain drain, but the development is definitely stifled by the fact that it's so unattractive for middle class people to move to Sweden compared to other countries, even Germany is much better which is why so much of the IT companies are establishing in Berlin and not Stockholm.
I was referring to this. Both Denmark and Finland were to a large extent involved in WW2, and neither have natural resources of the same kind as Norway.
Or is your opinion that they are not successful welfare states?
Sooner or later you run out of other people's money, and then you have to create more incentives for people to work, to take advantage of your own strong people to create the value, and that comes with more "inequality", and requires you to compromise on the welfare.
I'm convinced that a country that cannot attract hard working highly educated people will struggle to be successful in the global economy, and the way forward is to educate people to become more self sufficient and independent, and not to continue with patronising welfare politics that were made for a post war booming economy.