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Remember when Megan McArdle said that income inequality is necessary for innovation and Scandinavian countries don't innovate because socialism? Matt Bruenig rebutted David "Megan McArdle is a brilliant economist" Brooks' similar claims and what do you know, our highly paid Big Thinkers are wrong, wrong, wrong.

In reality, the Nordic countries are more entrepreneurial than the US. The most common measure of entrepreneurial activity is the birth rate of employer enteprises, which is defined as the percentage of enterprises in a given year that are brand new. Here is the enterprise birth rate of the US and the Nordics in 2007 (Norway didn't have data):

Perhaps because of its high level of enterpreneurialism, the Nordic countries are among the most innovative in the world. They regularly score near the top of (admittedly flawed) innovation indexes. Stockholm is home to the hottest tech sector in the world after Silicon Valley (which is itself located in tax-loving California). In recent years, the Nordic countries have given the world Spotify, Skype, Mojang (maker of Minecraft), Rovio (maker of Angry Birds), Supercell (maker of Clash of Clans), and Klarna (cutting-edge fintech firm). The Nordic countries, led by Volvo, are also on the forefront of driverless car research and, led by Finland, on the forefront of mobile phone networking technology. The Nordics are also home, in Sweden, to the most successful pop music industry in the world. 

There's nothing sluggish about the Nordic startup and innovation scene. Nothing at all.

Too bad one can't say the same about McArdle.

Such lazy, stupid posts reveal something:  McArdle's employers don't care what she says as long as she attracts the 9% for advertisers. They expect and want her to be stupidly ideological and pathologically dishonest. She's a particularly smelly bait for a greedy, amoral fish--and it works like a charm.