Sweden: Markets Within Politics

The Swedish welfare state is regularly praised (or maligned) as the prototype of publicly organized and provided welfare. No matter how you slice it, the public sector is among the largest in the OECD, with public sector spending totalling 54 percent of GDP in 2005; the tax levels required to finance these extensive public commitments are similarly high (Statistiska centralbyrån 2007: 31). As in most other advanced industrial countries, pensions and health care are the two largest categories in the public budget, and governments have faced strong economic and political pressures to reform both programs. The public pension and health care systems have undergone substantial change during the past two decades, but both programs remain firmly within the public sector. However, the role of “markets within politics” has increased substantially