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HN uses it as a counterintuitive data point in debates on welfare states, social mobility and entrepreneurship.
Sociologist and comedian Harald Eia argues in a TEDxOslo talk that Nordic social democracies produce more rich people per capita than the US or UK. He credits high taxes, welfare and strong unions for creating a safety net that enables risk taking.
“In these kinds of discussions I like to promote this interesting TEDx talk” (HN, 2018)
Just giving money will not work, see Saudi Arabia. They have all the money they can dream of and did not evolve. If you want it to work it needs 3 things: 1) Free Education 2) High Taxes 3) Strong Unions Sounds leftist? It may astonish you which countries have the highest ratio of rich persons per capita live. This and a good explanation can be found in "Where in the world is it easiest to get rich? (TEDxOslo)" [this video] Just giving money may help in short term anyway, but I doubt it is one solution for everything.
Explains why Nordic countries make it easy to get rich.
It was a tidbit that I ran across in [this video] which had some other interesting data points as well. Such as the fact that when you look at rich people per capita, it seems that social democracies like Canada, and Scandinavia create rich people more easily than the USA does. For example if you look for people worth $30million+ per million people, Canada has 186 while the USA has 126. That's about a third more per capita. And watching the video, you find that 42% of the children of the bottom 20% in the USA wind up in the bottom 20%. Very little of Canada does anything like that poorly.
Data on rich people per capita and mobility in Canada, Nordics, US.
In these kinds of discussions I like to promote this interesting TEDx talk: [this video] "Where in the world is it easiest to get rich?" Spoiler: the talk shows that statistically the Nordic countries lead the world in millionaires and billionaires / capita, and in rags-to-riches. The talker offers the opinion that this is because its of the strong social safety net, education and healthcare. Living in Scandinavia of course I like to hear this ;)
Nordics lead in millionaires per capita thanks to safety net.
I watched a very interesting TED talk related to this the other day. The premise is the question "Where in the world is it easiest to get rich?". The answer won't surprise you if I tell you the answer will surprise you. [this video]
Surprising answer on where it is easiest to get rich.
Well, it depends. This short tedxoslo had some nice points ("Where in the world is it easiest to get rich?" Hint: not the US): [this video] He's talking about social mobility from 8:30
Short talk with points on social mobility, discussed from 8:30.
No. Norway has extremely high salaries, and income tax that is pretty much equivalent to California (about 1/3 of your gross salary after deductions), in fact Norway is one of the easiest countries to become rich: [this video] You could argue that radical financial transparency is what causes this.
Shows Norway is among the easiest countries to become rich.
> what about sharing it among the people who didn't have the same luck than you? That's one big thing what taxes are for: To redistribute wealth. And I have employees which earn good money. I don't know what you expect from me. > Some people can afford to take risks and earn even more while some simply cannot. That's why a solid social system is so important. It gives us the room to take risks because we can be sure that we can get food, shelter and healthcare. See [1]. [1]: [this video]
Supports claim that safety nets enable risk taking.
I agree with you. In the US, looking at the lowest 20% earning men; 42% of their sons are still in the lowest 20% compared to below 30% in Nordic countries. Looking at those going from bottom 20% to top 20%, the US is at about 8% compared to 14% in Denmark Where in the world is it easiest to become rich? The Nordic countries, of course! Iceland, Norway and Sweden have the highest proportions of billionares in the world [this video]
Nordic countries have most billionaires and better social mobility.
I'm in Oslo now. There is an active start-up scene here. I have lots of Norwegian friends who have started businesses or non-profits. I know of people who started a tech business in SV and then moved back home to Norway for the quality of life. The safety-net gives you the ability to take risks, without risking your healthcare or your children's future. There is very little poverty and crime here, compared to SF. Public services work. If you go to a shop or restaurant, it feels good knowing that the people working there are making a living wage with 5 weeks vacation, etc. Norway has more $-millionaires per capita than the US: [this video]
Norway has more millionaires per capita than the US.
The Nordic countries are actually the easiest place in the world to become a dollar millionaire (or billionaire for that case) exactly because of the welfare system: [this video] When you don’t have to struggle for a living, you’re more free to take risks and start your own business. Workers accept disruptive innovation and being let go, knowing that the state will help them reskill if necessary.
Nordics are easiest place to become a millionaire due to welfare.
Tesla may go to Germany, but Scandinavia and the Nordic countries are still very good places to create factories. Highly skilled labor is easy to come by, and the top earners make less than their colleagues in the US. These are only a few of the many reasons why it’s very easy to get (filthy) rich in the Nordic countries: [this video]
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