On Bergh’s “Den kapitalistiska välfärdsstaten”

A nice summary of the rise and fall of the Swedish welfare state, “the capitalist welfare state” to the author. The book covers the “golden years” approximately 1870-1970 and discusses how and why Sweden could go from being one of the poorest to one of the richest countries in the West – while supporting an expanding welfare state. He also discusses how everything got messed up in the two decades 1970-1990, and why the welfare state as well as Swedes’ relative prosperity could not survive this institutional change. Overall a thoughtful and nice summary of the rise and fall and renaissance (?) of the Swedish welfare state – and what are the reasons for its relative success.