Viking Economics:

How the Scandinavians Got It Right - And How We Can, Too

By: George Lakey

Narrated by: Chris Roman

Liberals worldwide invoke Scandinavia as a promised land of equality, while most conservatives fear it as a hotbed of liberty-threatening socialism. But the left and right can usually agree on one thing: that the Nordic system is impossible to replicate elsewhere. The US and UK are too big, or too individualistic, or too - something.

In Viking Economics - perhaps the most fun economics audiobook you've ever listened to - George Lakey dispels these myths. He explores the inner-workings of the Nordic economies that boast the world's happiest, most productive workers, and explains how, if we can enact some of the changes the Scandinavians fought for, surprisingly recently, we too can embrace equality in our economic policy.

©2017 Melville House (P)2017 TalkingBook

Amazing ideas in this book

Expect a clean, professionally narrated book about economics and social policy but FUN! Loved it and would listen to again.

MIND BLOWING

Any additional comments?

This is something that everyone should hear. Very convincing. Very well-written and the narration is great!

Interesting Social History

This book doesn't really cover economics, if economics is the study of the interchange of currency, goods, and services. Rather, it's a look at the historical and social conditions that have led to the economic systems now in effect in Scandinavia. It does include comparative statistics (e.g., amount of innovation in Scandinavia versus North America), but it doesn't go into the details of specific economic questions. For that reason, the book will probably be of more interest to the layman than the economics student. Basically, the book makes the case that, if the United States were to realign its values around community, as opposed to the individual and profit, then it too could see a rise in the general quality of the life of its citizens, just as Scandinavia has. The reader wasn't bad, but it didn't seem like he could actually affect the Nordic accents he was trying to. Overall very interesting and worthwhile, but not a book of economics per se.

We’ll researched book

I just returned from a Scandinavian tour. I would vouch for everything in this book. These countries are a league of their own. The harmony between nature and people is amazing. Adopting the socialist model was tarnished by similarities to communism and corruption. Freedom and equality are pillars in Scandinavia but I would add accountability are merits that built the Viking economy and way of life. Read “Jante’s Law” to learn more. I was surprised that the book didn’t refer to it

Must Listen

If you've never read this or heard about this topic you've got to listen. Seriously mind boggling that the USA doesn't take a note from this study. Come on, people!

How to move the U.S. towards Scandinavian Heaven

Right now, as the 1% and right-wing extremists steer the U.S. ship of state, the description of the Nordic model in "Viking Economics" sounds like Heaven. George Lakey, the author describes many aspects of Scandinavian life, including education, the environment, work/life balance, and the stresses of recent high immigration. In a conversational, easy-listening tone, he relays personal anecdotes along with broad statistics to back up his points.

Bottom line, the quality of life, work/life balance, socioeconomic equality, and economic security are all superior in Scandinavia to what we have in the U.S. But what about freedom? Lakey quotes the findings of Freedom House, which provides well-accepted annual rankings of freedom for each country in the world. Scandinavia wins again. For example, in 2016, Norway was given the highest ranking possible on freedom, 100. Whereas, the U.S. came in with an 89 (https://freedomhouse.org/report/fiw-2017-table-country-scores). In the U.S., where money speaks louder than the 99% and where we incarcerate a higher percentage of our population than any other country, we have a ways to go.

Lakey’s characterization of the security, well-being, and sense of freedom in Scandinavia all rang true to me. My husband and I visited Denmark and Sweden last summer. We could feel the sense of security, the happiness, and the greater freedom to live life as one wants and not as economic stresses require. These were palpable.

But, would it be possible for the U.S. to adopt the Nordic model? Could we free our young people from mountains of educational debt? Could we provide everyone with high quality healthcare? Could we provide our seniors, regardless of income, with in-home care so that they could age in place if they wish?

For the U.S., resources are not the issue. We work many more hours, have greater natural resources, and have a higher GDP per person than in Sweden and Denmark. George Lakey addresses the obstacles that people usually mention: the grip of the 1% on our political system, our racial divide, and our cultural diversity. (I wish he had addressed another issue, our larger population size.) He shows how these may not be the barriers that many people suppose and that in certain ways, Scandinavia faced similar obstacles.

Lakey goes on to lay out a four-point strategy for the U.S. modeled on how the Scandinavians wrested the power they needed from their ruling elites to create the Nordic economic system:

• Create a vision of the future, shared by many Americans, of greater equality of opportunity, better work/life balance, a stronger social safety net, and a less corrupt political system. He suggests that a starting point could be the vision that Black Lives Matter has laid out.

• Increase involvement in worker-owned co-operatives and consumer co-operatives. Co-operatives create the skills and the democratic participation required to move us towards the Nordic model. Already, more than two-thirds of Americans participate in at least one co-operative, especially consumer co-operatives like credit unions. A large proportion of farmers participate in marketing co-operatives. Increasingly, employee-owned businesses are forming in the U.S.

• Commit to non-violence. In addition to the inherent desirability of avoiding violence, George Lakey quotes statistics indicating that non-violent social movements are twice as likely to succeed as violent movements.

• Act! Demonstrate, hold workers strikes, boycott…whatever it takes. The Scandinavian countries wrested their political systems from the ruling elites with social movements on the scale of our 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. Lakey feels that if we want the kind of revolutionary change that the Nordic model would bring, we will need to do the same.

Lakey concludes with an Afterword written in spring 2017 with comments on the Trump administration. He points out that Trump is a symptom of great dissatisfaction. This is a moment when a new vision could unite so many people who are unhappy with how things are going in America today.

More of this!

Any additional comments?

I can't believe this book isn't bigger. If everyone would just listen and work together we'd have this situation on lockdown. So necessary right now. Thanks, Mr. Lakey!

INFORMATIVE AND ENTERTAINING!

Any additional comments?

SOOOOOOOOOO good. Viking Economics was really fun all the way through. I'm moving to Scandinavia.

We can do it in the USA

Nope, Norway (and the rest of Scandinavia) is not a welfare state, it is an universal services state. Getting that concept across is a key component of this book. It is not narrated by the author which is why I put performance at only 4 stars but I have no real complaint about the narration. But the narrator is younger than I am and the author is more than 10 years my senior and there were a few passages where I became aware of the discrepancy. Just this week there was an article in the newspaper that compared childhood poverty rates. The best 5 countries were Scandinavian or South Korea. US near the bottom. And the only reason for the disparity seems to be the power of special interests.

Changed the way I think about politics

This book is amazing. It really changed the way I think about the world and politics and American exceptionalism.