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.
notch may have had to pay more taxes on his Minecraft profits, but the social safety net was worth it. also have you seen how good rovio is doing.
ReplyDeleteNice. I quoted another disproof from Jordan Weissmann, in my own piece on that idiotic Brooks column. It's really like combating zombies who don't try to eat your brain but just tire it out.
ReplyDeleteThat was a good post; I always learn a lot from your posts.
ReplyDeleteMcArdle wrote about Sanders today, which inspired this post. I'm going to discuss that next; she's decided that she's going to claim Scandinavians are by nature more cooperative and trusting of each other because they are homogeneous. I'm not sure she understands that she's calling America racist.
because they are homogeneous.
ReplyDeleteNo part of the world that contains Finns can be described as homogeneous.