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I keep seeing stories like this, and they continue to mystify me. Sweden had TEN TIMES as many deaths per capita as their Nordic neighbors. It's also not at all

I keep seeing stories like this, and they continue to mystify me. Sweden had TEN TIMES as many deaths per capita as their Nordic neighbors. It's also not at all clear that their economy has fared particularly better, as they also have the highest unemployment rate among the Nordic countries. I guess if the goal is to kill more people and lose more money, then sure, Sweden is the model for you.

mardifoufs 6y ago
Why compare sweden only to it's neighbors? That makes no sense and it sounds like selective biais. Take Quebec for example, we have had pretty strict lockdown rules and we are overall pretty similar to sweden in terms of population/density. Yet we have had a higher mortality per capita and we are going back into lockdowns due to a second wave, when sweden isn't. Also, sweden hasn't put in place extremely expensive employment subsidies like the rest of europe and north america did. So while yes, if you take let's say the netherlands, sweden apparently has more unemployment but that's only because the dutch government basically paid out the salaries of everyone who wouldve been otherwise fired. That support can't keep going forever though, so we will soon see what economies fared better once that artficial lifesupport runs out. Yes, Sweden suffered economically, but as far as I'm aware, they at least didn't already use up most of their financial ammo like locked down countries did. Keep in mind, printing money is fine, but printing money forever isn't. If they aren't faring much worst than countries who spent trillions and basically put their economies on cash fueled life support, that's a win. Remember, it looks like sweden won't have a substantial second wave unlike the rest of the western world. And a second lockdown would be even more economically crippling than the first one. It would absolutely shatter economic/investment confidence.
- vannevar 6y ago
  Why compare sweden only to it's neighbors? Because to fairly assess the impact of policy, you have to control for underlying genetic, economic, and environmental factors. The best way to do that in this case is to compare Sweden with its Nordic neighbors.

mardifoufs 6y ago

Why compare sweden only to it's neighbors? That makes no sense and it sounds like selective biais. Take Quebec for example, we have had pretty strict lockdown rules and we are overall pretty similar to sweden in terms of population/density. Yet we have had a higher mortality per capita and we are going back into lockdowns due to a second wave, when sweden isn't. Also, sweden hasn't put in place extremely expensive employment subsidies like the rest of europe and north america did. So while yes, if you take let's say the netherlands, sweden apparently has more unemployment but that's only because the dutch government basically paid out the salaries of everyone who wouldve been otherwise fired. That support can't keep going forever though, so we will soon see what economies fared better once that artficial lifesupport runs out. Yes, Sweden suffered economically, but as far as I'm aware, they at least didn't already use up most of their financial ammo like locked down countries did. Keep in mind, printing money is fine, but printing money forever isn't. If they aren't faring much worst than countries who spent trillions and basically put their economies on cash fueled life support, that's a win. Remember, it looks like sweden won't have a substantial second wave unlike the rest of the western world. And a second lockdown would be even more economically crippling than the first one. It would absolutely shatter economic/investment confidence.

vannevar 6y ago
Why compare sweden only to it's neighbors? Because to fairly assess the impact of policy, you have to control for underlying genetic, economic, and environmental factors. The best way to do that in this case is to compare Sweden with its Nordic neighbors.