He advocates the Nordic economic system. It sounds pretty good if one takes the time to read about it.
I am fairly familiar with Swedens economic system, but they went through a losening of standards also back in the 90s IIRC.
Economy of Sweden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sweden is a competitive
mixed economy featuring a generous universal
welfare state financed through relatively high income taxes that ensures that income is distributed across the entire society, a model sometimes called the
Nordic model.
[14] Approximately 90% of all resources and companies are privately owned, with a minority of 5% owned by the state and another 5% operating as either consumer or producer cooperatives.
[15]...
The National Institute of Economic research predicts GDP growth of 1.8%, 3.1% and 3.4% in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively.
[17] A comparison of upcoming economic growth rates of EU countries revealed that the
Baltic states,
Poland, and
Slovakia are the only countries that are expected to keep comparable or higher growth rates.
[18]...
A real estate boom ended in a bust. The government took over nearly a quarter of banking assets at a cost of about 4% of the nation's GDP. This was known colloquially as the "Stockholm Solution". In 2007, the
United States Federal Reserve noted, "In the early 1970s, Sweden had one of the highest income levels in Europe; today, its lead has all but disappeared...So, even well-managed financial crises don't really have a happy ending".
[26]
The welfare system that had been growing rapidly since the 1970s could not be sustained with a falling GDP, lower employment and larger welfare payments. In 1994 the
government budget deficit exceeded 15% of GDP.
The response of the government was to cut spending and institute a multitude of reforms to improve Sweden's competitiveness. When the international economic outlook improved combined with a rapid growth in the IT sector, which Sweden was well positioned to capitalize on, the country was able to emerge from the crisis.
[27]
The crisis of the 1990s was by some viewed as the end of the much buzzed welfare model called "Svenska modellen", literally "The Swedish Model", as it proved that governmental spending at the levels previously experienced in Sweden was not long term sustainable in a global open economy.
[28] Much of the Swedish Model's acclaimed advantages actually had to be viewed as a result of the post WWII special situation, which left Sweden untouched when competitors' economies were comparatively weak.
[29]
However, the reforms enacted during the 1990s seem to have created a model in which extensive welfare benefits can be maintained in a global economy.
[22]....
Sweden is an export-oriented
mixed economy featuring a modern distribution system, excellent internal and external communications, and a skilled
labor force. Timber,
hydropower and iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy heavily oriented toward
foreign trade. Sweden's engineering sector accounts for 50% of output and exports. Telecommunications, the automotive industry and the pharmaceutical industries are also of great importance. Agriculture accounts for 2 percent of GDP and employment.
The 20 largest Sweden-registered companies by turnover in 2013 were
Volvo,
Ericsson,
Vattenfall,
Skanska,
Hennes & Mauritz,
Electrolux,
Volvo Personvagnar,
Preem,
TeliaSonera,
Sandvik,
ICA,
Atlas Copco,
Nordea,
Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget,
Scania,
Securitas,
Nordstjernan,
SKF,
ABB Norden Holding and
Sony Mobile Communications AB, .
[30] Sweden's industry is overwhelmingly in
private control; unlike some other industrialized Western countries, such as Austria, Italy or Finland, state owned enterprises were always of minor importance. One important exception to this rule is
LKAB, which is a state-owned mining company, mostly active in the northern part of the country.
Some 4.5 million residents are working, out of which around a third with tertiary education.
GDP per hour worked is the world's 9th highest at 31 USD in 2006, compared to 22 USD in Spain and 35 USD in United States.
[31] According to OECD, deregulation, globalization, and technology sector growth have been key productivity drivers.
[31] GDP per hour worked is growing 21⁄2 per cent a year for the economy as a whole and trade-terms-balanced productivity growth 2%.
[31] Sweden is a world leader in privatized pensions and pension funding problems are small compared to many other Western European countries.
[32] Swedish labor market has become more flexible, but it still has some widely acknowledged problems.
[31] The typical worker receives only 40% of his income after the
tax wedge. The slowly declining overall taxation, 51.1% of GDP in 2007, is still nearly double of that in the United States or Ireland. Civil servants amount to a third of Swedish workforce, multiple times the proportion in many other countries. Overall, GDP growth has been fast since reforms in the early 1990s, especially in manufacturing.
[33]
World Economic Forum 2012–2013 competitiveness index ranks Sweden 4th most competitive.
[34] The
Index of Economic Freedom 2012 ranks Sweden the 21st most free out of 179 countries, or 10th out of 43 European countries.
[35] Sweden ranked 9th in the IMD Competitiveness Yearbook 2008, scoring high in private sector efficiency.