nordic self expression

Logic of Presentation
Nordic countries: macro and beyond
How values may shape economic system: overview
Nordic countries on the values map
Adherence to novelty and macro-policy reforms
Self-expression and innovations: some empirical tests
Concluding discussion

Macro and beyond
Nordic countries don’t deviate much by GDP dynamics in long-run
Even under contrasting monetary regimes Nordic countries maintain price stability

Economic Growth: not much variety in long-run (source: IMF)

Inflation: not much variety in long-run (source IMF)

What is really differ: scale of state
All Nordic countries redistribute much larger fraction of national income through the budget
Deviation from the mean of general government revenues to GDP is substantial for Nordic countries

General government revenue to GDP (2006-2012) (source IMF)

Scale of state: why so many discussions in recent time?
Surviveability of wealthier state in times of:
Increasing global competition and rising power of emerging market countries;
Increasing international tax competition and activity of fiscal termites;
Increasing role of innovations as driving force of economic growth;
Decreasing global real labor price;
Global and developed countries population aging;
High taxes as constrain for further fiscal expansion in stress-times…

Is only scale of state is differ
Nordic countries may maintain comparative rates of economic growth even with high tax burden and even within increasing competitiveness pressure
Beyond the macro:
High quality of institutions;
Innovations, innovation activity;
High value of human capital;
High value of social capital…

Can quality of institutions compensate tax burden?
Well designed institutions minimize transaction costs of property rights protections
Institutions that support business and innovation activity may shape more attractive environment for investment and job-creations than direct claims to taxes to be paid
Institutions and high value of social capital all together may work as self-enforcement contracts that support elasticity's of enforcement systems and decrease total transaction costs in the economy
High tax burden may be equal to heavy investment in human capital, infrastructure, research and innovation sectors that improve competitiveness

Quality of institutions and tax burden are in non-linear relations

Quality of institutions and tax burden are in non-linear relations

Quality of institutions and tax burden are in non-linear relations

Quality of institutions and tax burden are in non-linear relations

Values and economic system: overview
If countries not distinct much by macro performance but distinct by scale of state and institutional quality it is mean that in global environment compete:
Not only
Goods and firms;
States, economic and political systems;
But also
Values, models of social behavior and attitudes that shape complicated social systems

Values and economic systems: overview
Max Weber’s protestant ethic (individualism, self-responsibility, rationality) is related to market from of social iterations
Confucian social ethic (tolerance to hierarchy, responsibility to group and society, traditionalism) is related to optimal behavior in subordinated systems like labor relations in industrial production sectors
Moral Economics (values the most important driving force that shapes the variety of economic systems, preferences are shared beyond the utility of goods but also on types of behavior that affect erecting different formal and informal institutions)
Institutional theory and social trust doctrine (social capital and social trust are relevant to general level of transaction costs in economy that may have systematic effects related to models and types of capitalism)

Nordic values
Are commonly observable preferences (ecology, well-being, high income redistribution) of Nordic’s countries societies telling us about values?
World Values Map shows picture that is not expected answer:
Individuality
Self-expression
are the most comprehensive distinction

Nordic values
Individualism and Self-expression are related to:
Democratic self-responsibility
Adherence to formal institutions and formal relations
High level of social trust and social capital.
So, Nordic values support to strong institutional environment that Nordic countries are featured and support to global competitiveness.

Nordic values
How individualism and self-expression values must be view from driving forces of economic development?
If such forces are innovations does values support them?
Taking into account that efficiency of innovations especially in information society is depended to network effects how self-expressions and human capital may interact for good systematic result through “behavioral” channel?

Nordic values
Individualism and self-expression under behavioral souse
Adherence to novelty;
Readiness to implement the novelty;
High tolerance to innovations;
Assimilation of novelty and innovations as personal and social practice and part of day-to-day life;
Risk-taking of something unknown and pioneering

Nordic values
If individualism and self-expression are really valid values factor of Nordic life it must be observable in area of complicated social practice.
Hypothesis:
Pioneering in area of reforms in economic policy have to be related to society’s self-expression values (Novelty in theory – pioneering in implementation)
Innovation and informational society must be based on vales that stress on self-expression and individuality

Macro-policy reforms
Historical examples show that Nordic countries experienced with implementation of economic policy novelty:
Scandinavian monetary union (XIX century)
Social legislation and redistributional laws (since XIX century);
Gold Standard abandoning (After FWW and during Great Depression);
Wealther state creation, well-being standards, labor markets protections (After SWW);
Fiscal framework in resource reach country (Norway’s experience with Government Pension Fund-Global as SWF)
Successful fiscal consolidations in 1980s and 1990s

Macro-policy reforms
Traditional approach on timing of economic policy reforms and regime switch decisions:
Experience with deep crisis before
Some evidence of attractability of new regime
Strong political support to improve the economic performance
Values based approach:
Self-expression as behavioral background for reforms based on new theoretical principles
Readiness to accept the novelty and implement it as some kind of risk-taking that related to self-expression and individualism
So, regime switch decisions may reproduce values of society and timing of it may shows desire to be pioneering in novelty implementation

Macro-policy reforms
Values based approach to regime switch decisions helps to understand:
Why different countries decide to reform economic policy regime that basing on the same theoretical background in early or later
Why some countries don’t wait for troubles to reform economic policy
Why some countries implement new theoretical models in practical policy by itself and other do only after peer’s pressure

Macro-policy reforms
Recent evidence of Nordic countries pioneering in reforms areas
Wealther state reforms since 1990s
Inflation targeting and monetary institutions strengthening in early 1990s (Sweden and Finland was leaders switching on price stability monetary framework)
Fiscal rules introduction to strengthen fiscal performance (1990s)
Fiscal frameworks reforms for better fiscal performance and debt sustainability (2000s)
Decrease of public debt burden and reforms for macroeconomic flexibility in time of global financial instability (currently)

Self-expression and innovations
Once self-expression is behavioral channel for innovations, Nordic leadership must be evident in metrics of innovations and informational society.
Empirical approach is available
Source for values: World values survey
Source for innovations and informational society: relevant indexes
Indexes used as dependent variable:
Summary Innovation Index (SII) (EC Innovation Union Scoreboard);
Global Innovation Index;
Innovation Capacity Index;
ICT Development Index (IDI).

Self-expression and innovations
Data cover 30 European countries
According to World Values Survey self-expression and survival values are polar but such values are in the same line.
Countries that are on self-expression side: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Luxemburg, Greece, Portugal, Czech, Slovenia, Croatia.
Countries that are on survival side: Poland, Hungary, Slovak, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria.

Self-expression and innovations (Summary innovation index)

Self-expression and innovations (Global Innovation Index)

Self-expression and innovations (Innovation Capacity Index)

Self-expression and informational society development (ICT development index)

Concluding remarks
Values are important driving force of type of economic system
Behavioral channel help to understand how values through interactions of economic agents may have systematic effects
Self expression and individualism are supportive values to innovation driving informational society
Nordic countries distinctioning by self-expression and individualism values are also leaders in Innovation, Informational developments and economic policy modernization