Using the economic freedom index and the newly developed KOF-index of globalization, it is shown that the Scandinavian welfare states have experienced faster, bigger and more consistent increases in these areas, compared to the smaller European and the so called liberal welfare states. The...

According to many democracy theorists, there is an unavoidable trade-off between constitutionalism and the need for political action. This paper criticizes that belief. Rather, it argues that a division of power, while sometimes entailing high political transaction costs, can nevertheless be...

The rule of law, constitutional democracy, and market economy are taken as the core institutions of free societies. After arguing that shared values heavily influence institutions, it is asked whether Islamic values are conducive to those institutions. The values are ascertained via the economic...

Uppsatsen dokumenterar den offentliga sektorns utveckling och inriktning. Det framgår att sektorn expanderat i stort sett oavbrutet under 1900-talet, från cirka 10 procent av BNP vid seklets början till 70 procent 1993. Trots en viss tillbakagång sedan 1993 har Sverige idag de högsta...

In 1980, Sweden was a highly regulated economy with several state monopolies and low levels of economic freedom. Less than 20 years later, liberal reforms have turned Sweden into one of the worlds most open economies with a remarkable increase in economic freedom. While taxes and expenditure...

Uppsatsen analyserar den fundamentala, normativa frågan om statens roll i ett gott samhälle. Efter att först gått igenom sedvanliga effektivitetsargument utvärderas statens åtaganden utifrån kriteriet mänsklig värdighet. I analysen, som utgår ifrån en bred tradition inom klassisk...

The burden of the welfare state may be analysed from an economic as well as a more normative perspective. This paper attempts to do both things. By the use of the case of Sweden the expansion and the costs of the welfare state is described, partly in international comparison, and explained,...

Several recent studies have found a negative relation between government size and economic growth in rich countries. Since countries with big government have experienced above average improvements in both the Economic freedom index and the KOF globalization index, we argue that existing studies...

The Swedish system for inter-regional redistribution is examined from a political economy perspective and a growth perspective. A number of recent Swedish studies of this system are examined. Political economy concerns are found to be adequately represented in academic studies of this system,...