Nordic exceptionalism? Social democratic egalitarianism in world-historic perspective

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fochesato, Mattia; Bowles, Samuel
• 署名单位: University of Siena; The Santa Fe Institute
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.03.001
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 30-44
• 关键词: Wealth inequality; redistribution; Nordic model; Economic systems; Gini coefficient; Social democracy; Horticulturalists; Hunter gatherers

摘要

In what respect, if any, are the Nordic economies exceptionally egalitarian when viewed from a world historical perspective? Our answer is based on archaeological, historical and ethnographic as well as contemporary evidence over the past three thousand years. The countries exemplifying the Nordic model are not exceptionally equal in the ownership of material wealth. Moreover, the advent of social democracy in the Nordic nations did not result in a more equal distribution of years of schooling. But intergenerational economic and social mobility appears to be exceptional in the Nordic nations, and by most measures, inequalities in living standards in the Nordic economies are less than in other advanced economies. The closest Nordic analogy in our data set is to the egalitarian distribution of well-being and limited intergenerational transmission of wealth found in some horticultural and (especially) forager economies. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.