Where Schumpeter was Nearly Right - The Swedish Model and Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

In Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy Joseph A. Schumpeter concluded that socialism would eventually displace capitalism in Western democracies. This would come about as a result of the superior performance of capitalism. We extract six "stylized" propositions that are essential elements of Schumpeter's prediction about the fate of capitalism. These propositions are confronted with the development of the Swedish economy. The three main results of the analysis are: (1) The evolution of the Swedish economy closely followed Shumpeter's predictions until about 1980: Large firms became increasingly predominant in production and innovative activity, ownership of firms became more and more concentrated, individual entrepreneurship waned in importance, the general public grew increasingly hostile towards capitalism, and by the late 1970s explicit proposals for a gradual transfer of ownership of firms from private hands were launched. (2) Design of tax and industrial policies fueled a development of the economy along the lines predicted by Schumpeter. In general, the policies discouraged private wealth accumulation. In particular, the policies favored concentration of firms and concentration of private ownership. (3) The turning point away from the path to socialism coincides with real world developments that disclosed two major flaws in Schumpeter´s analysis. First, the ever more obvious failure of socialism in Eastern Europe went against Schumpeter's assertion that socialism can work. Second, Schumpeter, who thought that modern technology would make the giant corporation increasingly predominant, did not foresee the revival of entrepreneurship that took place in the Western countries around 1980.Corporatism; Entrepreneurship; Industrial Policy; Schumpeter; Swedish Model

The Swedish Corporate Control Model: Convergence, Persistence or Decline?

This paper explores the effects of deregulation and globalization on the dominant mode of corporate governance in Swedish public firms. The effects are multidimensional—the direction of change in corporate governance cannot be determined by simply examining whether a convergence towards the Anglo-Saxon model is occurring. Dispersed ownership with management control has not proven to be a viable model of corporate governance for Swedish listed companies. Instead, the control models with the most rapid growth in the most recent decades are found outside the stock market, notably private equity and foreign ownership. After a major revival of the Swedish stock market its importance for the Swedish economy is again in decline. Instead of adjustments in pertinent institutions and practices to ensure effectiveness of the corporate governance of Swedish public firms under these new conditions, a great deal of endogenous adjustment of the ownership structure has taken place.Corporate control; Corporate governance; Corporatism; Entrepreneurship; Ownership policy; Ownership structure; Swedish model

The Swedish Model of Corporate Ownership and Control in Transition

We analyze the development of the Swedish ownership model after World War II. The controlling ownership in Swedish firms is typically concentrated to one or two owners. Often, but not always, the controlling owners are Swedish families. Thus, the model resembles the typical corporate control model of Continental Europe. A distinguishing feature of the Swedish model is that control is typically based on a smaller capital base than in other European countries. This feature is a result of a seemingly paradoxical policy concerning private ownership. Tax policy has consistently disfavored the accumulation of private wealth, but at the same time corporate law has greatly facilitated the wielding of control based on a small equity base. Our analysis shows that the large gap between ownership and control makes the Swedish corporate control model both politically and economically unstable. The major political threat to date has been the proposal of the Swedish Trade Union Congress (the LO) and the Social Democratic Party to introduce a scheme that would result in the gradual takeover of the Swedish corporate sector by union-controlled wage-earner funds. After the political defeat of this proposal in the 1980’s economic policy was changed in a more market liberal direction. This policy change has uncovered the economic instability of the model. The weak financial base of the controlling owners makes it difficult for them to take an active part in the current international restructuring of the corporate sector. Two forces are now seen as the major threat to the Swedish ownership model: (a) a rapidly increasing foreign takeover of Swedish firms and (b) large state and corporatist pension funds. Their financial assets are far larger than those of today’s dominant control owners and extensive mandatory and/or tax-favored systems for pensions saving ascertain that their relative financial strength will continue to grow sharply in the future.Corporate control; Corporate governance; Corporatism; Entrepreneurship; Ownership policy; Ownership structure; Swedish Model

The Transformation of Ownership Policy and Structure in Sweden: Convergence towards the Anglo-Saxon Model?

We investigate the dramatic transformation of ownership policies and ownership structure in Sweden during the postwar period. After WWII, Swedish ownership policies were guided by a socialist vision where the ultimate goal was abolition of private ownership. These policies came to an end in the early 1980s. Since then a large number of Swedish firms have been acquired by foreign owners or merged with foreign firms and the foreign ownership share on the Swedish Stock Exchange has increased rapidly. A central question is whether this fast transformation is merely a logical consequence of current globalization, or whether this tendency has been reinforced by economic policies vis-à-vis the business sector in Sweden. We show that until the late 1980s, Swedish economic policy – aimed at discouraging private wealth accumulation and favoring institutional ownership and debt financing – effectively precipitated the rapid takeover of the Swedish business sector by foreign owners that gained momentum in the 1990s. Policy measures intended to create a system of “capitalism without capitalists” can be said to have “packaged” large Swedish corporations in terms of ownership and financing structure, so that foreign takeover was facilitated. The article ends with a discussion as to whether the dramatic change in ownership structure in the Swedish business sector may result in the demise of the old corporatist model of industrial relations, giving way to a new trend towards a liberal market economy of the current Anglo-Saxon variety.Corporatism; Entrepreneurship; Industrial policy; Ownership policy; Ownership structure; Swedish Model

The Transformation of Ownership Policy and Structure in Sweden: Convergence towards the Anglo-Saxon Model?

We investigate the dramatic transformation of ownership policies and ownership structure in Sweden during the postwar period. After WWII, Swedish ownership policies were guided by a socialist vision where the ultimate goal was abolition of private ownership. These policies came to an end in the early 1980s. Since then a large number of Swedish firms have been acquired by foreign owners or merged with foreign firms and the foreign ownership share on the Swedish Stock Exchange has increased rapidly. A central question is whether this fast transformation is merely a logical consequence of current globalization, or whether this tendency has been rein­forced by economic policies vis-à-vis the business sector in Sweden. We show that until the late 1980s, Swedish economic policy – aimed at discouraging private wealth accumulation and favor­ing institutional ownership and debt financing – effectively precipitated the rapid takeover of the Swedish business sector by foreign owners that gained momentum in the 1990s. Policy measures intended to create a system of “capitalism without capitalists” can be said to have “packaged” large Swedish corporations in terms of ownership and financing structure, so that foreign takeover was facilitated. The article ends with a discussion as to whether the dramatic change in ownership structure in the Swedish business sector may result in the demise of the old corporatist model of industrial relations, giving way to a new trend towards a liberal market economy of the current Anglo-Saxon variety.  Corporatism; Entrepreneurship; Industrial Policy; Ownership Policy; Ownership Structure; Swedish Model

The Swedish Model of Corporate Ownership and Control in Transition

We analyze the development of the Swedish ownership model after WWII. The controlling ownership in Swedish firms is typically concentrated to one or two owners. Often, but not always, the controlling owners are Swedish families. Thus, the model resembles the typical corporate control model of Continental Europe. A distinguishing feature of the Swedish model is, however, that control is typically based on a smaller capital base than in other European countries. This feature is a result of a seemingly paradoxical policy when it comes to private ownership. Tax policy has consistently disfavored the accumulation of private wealth, but at the same time corporate law has greatly facilitated the wielding of control based on a small equity base. Our analysis shows that the large gap between ownership and control makes the Swedish corporate control model both politically and economically unstable. The major political threat to date has been the proposal of the Swedish TUC and the Social Democratic Party to introduce a scheme that would result in the gradual takeover of the Swedish corporate sector by union-controlled wage-earner funds. After the political defeat of this proposal economic policy was changed in a more market liberal direction. This policy change has uncovered the economic instability of the model. The weak financial base of the controlling owners makes it difficult for them to take an active part in the current international restructuring of the corporate sector. Two forces are now seen as the major threat to the Swedish ownership model: A rapidly increasing foreign takeover of Swedish firms and the large state and corporatist pension funds. Their financial assets are far larger than those of today’s dominant control owners and extensive mandatory and/or tax-favored systems for pensions saving ascertains that their relative financial strength will continue to grow sharply.Corporate control; Corporate governance; Corporatism; Entrepreneurship; Ownership policy; Ownership structure; Swedish Model.

Statistical presentation and analysis of ordinal data in nursing research.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to review the presentation and analysis of ordinal data in three international nursing journals in 2003. Method: In total, 166 full-length articles from the 2003 editions of Cancer Nursing, Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences and Nursing Research were reviewed for their use of ordinal data. Results: This review showed that ordinal scales were used in about a third of the articles. However, only about half of the articles that used ordinal data had appropriate data presentation and only about half of the analyses of the ordinal data were performed properly. Conclusions: Ordinal data are rather common in nursing research, but a large share of the studies do not present/analyse the result properly. Incorrect presentation and analysis of the data may lead to bias and reduced ability to detect statistical differences or effects, resulting in misleading information. This highlights the importance of knowledge about data level, and underlying assumptions for the statistical tests must be considered to ensure correct presentation and analyses of data

Ägarpolitik och ägarstruktur i efterkrigstidens Sverige

Under de senaste åren har ett stort antal svenska företag övergått i utländsk ägo eller fusionerats med utländska företag. Samtidigt har den utländska ägarandelen på börsen ökat snabbt. Är detta endast en naturlig del av den pågående internationaliseringen eller förstärks utvecklingen av den politik som förts gentemot företagssektorn i Sverige? Här hävdar Magnus Henrekson och Ulf Jakobsson att den ekonomiska politiken i Sverige under efterkrigstiden – där enskild förmögenhetsuppbyggnad motverkats och institutionellt ägande och lånefinansiering uppmuntrats – fått till följd att det utländska övertagandet av svenskt näringsliv påskyndats. De betonar att den del av politiken som syftat till att skapa ”kapitalism utan kapitalister” så att säga ”paketerat” de svenska storföretagen för ett utländskt övertagande. Deras analys talar för att vi står inför en utveckling där en mycket stor del av de stora svenska företagen inom några få år kommer att vara i utländsk ägo. Slutligen hävdar författarna att det enda sättet att bromsa denna utveckling är att avveckla alla de skatteregler som gynnar utländskt ägande i förhållande till svenskt.Förmögenhetspolitik; Löntagarfonder; Svenska modellen; Utlandsägande; Ägarpolitik; Ägarstruktur

Sleep and Television and Computer Habits of Swedish School-Age Children

The aim of this study was to investigate sleep, television and computer habits and enjoyment and feelings of tiredness in school of school-age children and adolescents in Sweden. An instrument found to be valid and reliable here was distributed to 3,011 children aged 6, 7, 10, 14, and 16 years. Those sleeping less than the median length of time reported a significantly lower degree of enjoyment of school. Short sleep was found to be associated with having a bedroom TV, spending more than 2 hr a day at the TV or the computer, being tired in school, and having difficulties both in waking up and in sleeping. Discussing sleep and media habits with schoolchildren and their parents regarding matters of optimal sleep and of how media habits affect sleep and learning is seen to be an important task of the school health service

Translation and psychometric evaluation of a Swedish version of the parental stressor scale PSS: NICU.

The aim was to translate the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS: NICU) into the Swedish language and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Swedish version