Sweden&#x27;s recent good years are courtesy of substantial pro-market reforms they made after several lost decades in which their over-sized welfare state had caused stagnation.<p>Don&#x27;t take my word for it, here&#x27;s their recent finance minister explaining what they did and why:<p>&quot;Like many societies, we went too far in our welfare-state ambitions&quot; ... &quot;If you’re working yourselves upwards in taxes and deficits, we’re working ourselves downwards&quot;<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;forbes&#x2F;2009&#x2F;0803&#x2F;international-invest-guide-obama-sweden-public-downsizing.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;forbes&#x2F;2009&#x2F;0803&#x2F;international-invest-...</a><p>[2001] &quot;By 1991 the voters had had enough. They threw out the Social Democrats for the first time since the war and installed Carl Bildt’s Conservative government. Bildt set about liberalizing important state-monopolized or dominated markets, notably telecommunications and banking. As competition in telecoms cut telephone and internet access charges, Sweden became a hotbed of technology experimentation, with some of the highest penetration rates for mobile phones and internet access.&quot;<p>&quot;Bildt cut back Sweden’s confiscatory taxes. His 1991 tax reform package capped national taxes on personal income at about 50%; before 1991, rates could go above 90%. Bildt’s tax reform also established capital gains, dividend and net interest income as special income categories, taxable at 30%. Corporate income tax: 28%.&quot;<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;global&#x2F;2001&#x2F;0319&#x2F;034.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;global&#x2F;2001&#x2F;0319&#x2F;034.html</a><p>That said, I&#x27;m not aware of any free-wheeling Capitalist nations except perhaps Singapore. The US for example is a highly regulated welfare state with upper-mid tier taxation among nations.<p>Meanwhile, Finland is in a depression [1][2][3], with their economy shrinking year after year, while they refuse to cut their own stagnation-causing over-bearing welfare state.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&#x2F;finance&#x2F;12001895&#x2F;Finlands-depression-is-the-final-indictment-of-Europes-monetary-union.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&#x2F;finance&#x2F;12001895&#x2F;Finlands-depress...</a><p>[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ft.com&#x2F;intl&#x2F;cms&#x2F;s&#x2F;0&#x2F;35c8560c-c62f-11e4-add0-00144feab7de.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ft.com&#x2F;intl&#x2F;cms&#x2F;s&#x2F;0&#x2F;35c8560c-c62f-11e4-add0-00144...</a><p>[3] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2016-01-26&#x2F;the-new-sick-man-of-europe-has-an-aaa-credit-rating" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2016-01-26&#x2F;the-new-si...</a>