Scandinavian Economic Trade-Offs Are Good

11 thoughts
last posted Feb. 19, 2016, 8:18 p.m.

3 earlier thoughts

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Second Argument: “2. Scandinavia isn’t actually as prosperous as liberals like to claim”

Writer does not offer any examples of liberals claiming given levels of prosperity, so he is free to take whatever measure he likes and just say it is not good. So, first problem, nothing of substance is being demonstrated.

He depends for this argument on a single Swedish group paper comparing per-capita GDP to that of individual US States.

So, second problem, if you want to know how the majority of people are doing economically, averaging GDP across the population is a profoundly stupid way to do it. This is basic middle-school math.

If you have a country of 90 people who each generate $10 of GDP working for 10 people who generate $100,000 of GDP, the GDP per capita is close to $100k. But most of the people in this hypothetical country are dirt-poor; it’s the few who are making up nearly all that average. (Which is the case in America, no one disputes this)

7 later thoughts