Economist, Feb 2, 2013

choi

My comment:
(a) The cover story, which is the occasional Special Report, is Nordic countries.
(i) The cover: The Next Supermodel; Why the world should look at the Nordic countries.
(ii) The special report: Northern Lights; The Nordic countries.
(b) CIA World Factbook (2013):

************population****GDP per capita (PPP)
[Sorry, these dumb computers, with limited capabilities on purpose, somehow can not access CIA World Factbook website. Always.]
(c) There is no need to read the rest of any of the following articles, except the last, which is (4).


(1) Northern lights; The Nordic countries are reinventing their model of capitalism, says Adrian Wooldridge.
http://www.economist.com/news/sp ... italism-says-adrian

(a) Quote: "For most of the 20th century Sweden prided itself on offering what Marquis Childs called, in his 1936 book of that title, a 'Middle Way' between capitalism and socialism. Global companies such as Volvo and Ericsson generated wealth while enlightened bureaucrats built the Folkhemmet or 'People’s Home.' As the decades rolled by, the middle way veered left. The government kept growing: public spending as a share of GDP nearly doubled from 1960 to 1980 and peaked at 67% in 1993. Taxes kept rising. The Social Democrats (who ruled Sweden for 44 uninterrupted years from 1932 to 1976 and for 21 out of the 24 years from 1982 to 2006) kept squeezing business. 'The era of neo-capitalism is drawing to an end,' said Olof Palme, the party’s leader, in 1974. “It is some kind of socialism that is the key to the future.' The other Nordic countries have been moving in the same direction, if more slowly.

(b) A graphic whose heading is: "It can be done[.] Sweden's government spending[;] As % of GDP," shows more or less 50% since 2006.

(c) Note:
(i) This article served as the introduction.
(ii) Adrian Wooldridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Wooldridge
(an editor for the Economist)
(iii) Marquis Childs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_Childs
(1903-1990; an journalist American with the newspaper Saint Louis Post-Dispatch; in 1936 wrote "Sweden; The middle way")

choi

(2) Business |  Global Niche Players; Nordic companies have coped well with globalisation, but need new blood.
http://www.economist.com/news/sp ... -blood-global-niche

(a) Quote:

(i) "The Vikings’ modern descendants believe they can turn globalisation to their advantage. They excel at producing born-global companies. Ericsson, founded in 1876, started selling phones in China in the 1890s. They also outperform more muscular competitors. Torben Pedersen, of the Copenhagen Business School, points out that Nordic countries are past masters at adjusting to rules dictated by big countries such as Germany or America. Surely they can cope with China and India?

(ii) "The Nordic countries have an impressive number of globally competitive companies. Denmark is a world leader in hearing aids (Oticon), shipping (Maersk), toys (Lego), drink (Carlsberg) and windpower (with more than 200 companies that account for a third of the world’s wind-turbine market). Novo Nordisk is at the centre of a biotech cluster, dubbed Medicon Valley, that stretches from Copenhagen to Malmö in neighbouring Sweden and has an annual turnover of €13.4 billion.

"Sweden boasts some world-class manufacturing companies, particularly in mining equipment and machine tools (Sandvik and Atlas Copco), as well as retail stars such as IKEA and H&M. Finland’s Kone is one of the world’s leading lift and escalator companies. Nokia’s problems are being offset by the rise of electronic-games makers such as Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds. Norway is a world leader in oil services and fish farming.

"Nordic companies have thrived in well-defined global niches. Lego dominates the market for interlocking bricks. Sandvik is a machine-tool superpower. Volvo Trucks produces the world’s best high-quality lorries. Nichification protects high-cost companies from emerging-market competitors.

(b) Note:
(i) Ericcson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ericsson
(In 1876, at the age of 30, [Lars Magnus Ericsson] started a telegraph repair shop in Stockholm [where the company headquarters remains]; In 1878 Ericsson began making and selling his own telephone equipment)
(ii) Lego
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego
(manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark; making wooden toys, in 1934 his [Ole Kirk Christiansen's] company came to be called "Lego", from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play well")

* Ole (name)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_(name)
(iii) Carlsberg Group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlsberg_Group
(founded in 1847 by JC Jacobsen after the name of his son Carl; main brand is Carlsberg Beer; headquarters  Copenhagen)
(iv) Novo Nordisk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novo_Nordisk
(a pharmaceutical; created in 1989 through a merger of two Danish companies [Novo Industri A/S and Nordisk Gentofte A/S] dating back to the 1920s)

* The Danish adjectives "novo" and "nordisk" means "new" and "Nordic" in English.

choi

(3) Norway | The Rich Cousin; Oil makes Norway different from the rest of the region, but only up to a point.
http://www.economist.com/news/sp ... -only-up-point-rich

first two paragraphs:

"NORWAY IS THE odd man out in the Nordics. While its neighbours are flirting with free markets, Norway is embracing state capitalism. Its national oil champion, Statoil, is the largest company in the region. The Norwegian state owns large stakes in Telenor, the country’s biggest telephone operator, Norsk Hydro, its biggest aluminium producer, Yara, its biggest fertiliser-maker, and DnBNor, its biggest bank. It holds 37% of the Oslo stockmarket, but it also controls some non-listed giants such as Statkraft, a power-generator, which if listed would be the third-biggest company on the stockmarket.

"The simple explanation for Norway’s penchant for state capitalism is oil. When it was discovered in the North Sea in late 1969 it transformed the country’s economy. Today Norway is the world’s eighth-largest oil exporter. Petroleum accounts for 30% of the government’s revenues as well as a quarter of the country’s value added.

choi

(4) Lessons | The Secret of Their Success; The Nordic countries are probably the best-governed in the world.
http://www.economist.com/news/sp ... -world-secret-their

(a) Quote:

(i) The Nordic countries pride themselves on the honesty and transparency of their governments. Nordic governments are subject to rigorous scrutiny: for example, in Sweden everyone has access to all official records. Politicians are vilified if they get off their bicycles and into official limousines. The Nordics have added two other important qualities to transparency: pragmatism and tough-mindedness.

(ii) "Sweden guaranteed freedom of the press in 1766, and from the 1840s onwards it abolished preference for aristocrats in handing out top government jobs and created a meritocratic and corruption-free civil service. They also embraced Protestantism—a religion that reduces the church to a helpmate and emphasises the direct relationship between the individual and his God. One of the Lutheran church’s main priorities was teaching peasants to read.

(iii) "the Nordics are the world’s biggest believers in individual autonomy. The Nordic combination of big government and individualism may seem odd to some, but according to Lars Tragardh, of Ersta Skondal University College, Stockholm, the Nordics have no trouble reconciling the two: they regard the state’s main job as promoting individual autonomy and social mobility.

(b) Note: The article said, "CECIL RHODES ONCE remarked that 'to be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life.'"

Cecil Rhodes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Rhodes
(1853-1902)
(i) section 9 Quotations: "Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life."
(ii) section 9.1 Mis-quotes: "To be born English is to win first prize in the * lottery of life."