logo
episode-header-image
May 2024
16m 36s

The Economy of Sweden

Economics Explained
About this episode

Sweden is a beautiful Scandinavian country famed for its beautiful people, flat-packed furniture, PewDiePie and meatballs. Now of course if you hadn’t guessed by the channels title we are only here to look Sweden's economy, and it is a remarkable one at that. Sweden is home to one of the highest standards of living in the world and is often held in extremely high regard when it comes to workers rights and general quality of life indicators such as working hours, happiness rates and life expectancy. It is also a nation with a rich history of setting the trend for other economies to follow, Sweden is home to the Riksbank founded in 1668 it is the oldest central bank in the world, blazing the path for monetary policy that dictates every major economy in the world today.


So how did it get here. We have explored rich nations with strong welfare systems that seem to do everything right on the channel before… most notably Norway, Sweden's little brother the to west… But Sweden is slightly different in the sense that it was not blessed with the Norwegian sea and its abundance of oil and gas, so it was not able to build up a sovereign wealth fund with oil profits like Norway was and so on paper it is citizens are poorer than Norway's but their quality of life seems exactly the same.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up next
Aug 11
Why do We Still Need to Work?
A century ago, economist John Maynard Keynes confidently predicted that by 2030, we would only be working 15 hours a week. Yet, here we are—working harder than ever! While technology has dramatically boosted productivity, our work hours remain largely unchanged, and the prevalenc ... Show More
15m 56s
Aug 5
Do We Still Need Central Banks?
Almost every nation relies on a central bank, but the US is buzzing with talk of scrapping the Fed—the globe’s mightiest financial force! From its 1694 origins to battling today’s debt and inequality crises, we break down why central banks are crucial and what chaos could unfold ... Show More
18m 39s
Jul 21
Iran's Economic Dilemma
Iran boasts vast oil reserves, a strategic trading position, and a skilled workforce; however, sanctions and internal issues hinder its progress. From black-market oil to power outages, discover why this energy giant struggles to thrive. Can it break free from its economic troubl ... Show More
16 m
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2024
Job switching in Denmark
Denmark has one of the highest job mobility rates in the world - about 20% of Danes start new jobs each year. Frequent job changes are a reflection of the Danish concept of "flexicurity" – flexibility with the security of the welfare state. As a matter of fact, if you stay in the ... Show More
6m 51s
Jun 2024
Greatest Hits: The Nordic Theory Of Everything With Anu Partanen
What do you love about your home country? What do you think could be better? After moving to America in 2008, Anu began to notice how much more complicated and stressful things seemed to be in the States compared to her home country of Finland. Anu Partanen is a Finnish journalis ... Show More
1h 11m
Jan 2024
La ville de Stockholm
Capitale de la Suède, Stockholm est une ville agréable et unique. Cette ville-archipel de la Baltique compte de nombreux monuments. Pour en parler, Johanne Dussez reçoit Philippe Poindront, docteur en histoire de l'art et guide-conférencier. 
57m 38s
Jan 2025
The Danish Empire - without Greenland?
Denmark, as Danes like to tell you, is a little country. But it used to be a much bigger country, a bit of an empire. Norway was once part of Denmark. Iceland was once part of Denmark. The southern half of Sweden and a bit of northern Germany used to be part of Denmark. What is n ... Show More
7m 54s
Apr 2025
The Swedish Meatballs Controversy
Where are meatballs from, and why does it matter? Social media users frenziedly grappled with these very questions on 29th April, 2018, when Sweden’s official Twitter account proclaimed: “Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey i ... Show More
11m 12s
Sep 2024
The French King of Sweden
Rerun: Jean Bernadotte’s dad, a local prosecutor in the southwestern French city of Pau, intended for his son to follow in his footsteps as a lawyer. Instead, Jean became heir to the Swedish Crown on September 26th, 1810, and his descendants still sit on the Swedish throne to thi ... Show More
12m 3s
Aug 10
August, The first day of school, and how children learn to be Danish: The Danish Year Part 8
Denmark is a very good place to be a child, and to have children, yet the birthrate is dropping as it is in so many other countries. Some preschools have shut down due to lack of kids. Just this year Denmark reached a population of 6 million – a big landmark - but that’s mostly d ... Show More
8m 20s
Dec 2024
Sweden’s #softgirls trend
We find out why, in a country famous for championing gender equality, some women are choosing to become stay at home wives and girlfriends.The social media #softgirl trend is a small but growing minority, who say they don't want the stress of juggling family and work. They want a ... Show More
17m 43s
Jul 2024
The unstoppable rise of Swedish music tech
Streaming giants Spotify and SoundCloud were both founded in Stockholm, and over the past two decades the Swedish capital has developed a reputation as a European hub for companies blending music and innovation. So why does this small Nordic city punch above its weight in music t ... Show More
7m 46s
May 24
Combien faut-il de générations pour qu'une famille sorte de la pauvreté ?
En France, il faut en moyenne six générations pour qu’un enfant né dans une famille pauvre accède à un niveau de vie moyen. Ce chiffre, à première vue abstrait, en dit long sur l’état de la mobilité sociale dans le pays. Et il est préoccupant : seule la Hongrie fait « pire » au s ... Show More
2m 3s