Healthy 'Surplus'?
10 September 2006
The Editor, The Economist
25 St James's Street
London SW1A 1HG
United Kingdom
SIR:
Among the successes of Nordic economic policy you list "healthy...current-account surpluses" (“Admire the best, forget the rest," September 9). Why?
It's true that current-account surpluses might be evidence of wholesomely high savings rates, but they might also be evidence of stagnant investment climates. For Sweden, at least, the latter possibility seems to be most plausible in light of the fact that, as you report, "Sweden has created almost no net private-sector jobs since 1950."
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
The Editor, The Economist
25 St James's Street
London SW1A 1HG
United Kingdom
SIR:
Among the successes of Nordic economic policy you list "healthy...current-account surpluses" (“Admire the best, forget the rest," September 9). Why?
It's true that current-account surpluses might be evidence of wholesomely high savings rates, but they might also be evidence of stagnant investment climates. For Sweden, at least, the latter possibility seems to be most plausible in light of the fact that, as you report, "Sweden has created almost no net private-sector jobs since 1950."
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Monday May 21, 2007 at 10:43am