I try not to use the word “capitalist” anymore, as it seems to prevent thinking. I prefer “free market.” Despite the title, the writer of Sweden is Capitalist over at National Review agrees, and gives even better reasons.
I have written before that Sweden is not so socialist as American imagination would expect. It was mildly socialist 1930-1970; hard socialist 1970-1990; and since then has backed off considerably. They have large government spending per person, and the sort of social safety net that only works when everyone looks like second cousins. You will notice that they are (ahem) having more difficulty with that lately, as are the other Scandinavians. Huh. Wonder what could have caused that. The author notes that the corruption is very low (as it is in all the Scandinavian nations), and they seem to actually get something for their money, so she doesn’t object as much as she might. I remain unconvinced, but consider it a valid point.
Ms. McCloskey gives the topic a better overview than I do. There is some of the same information I read in Debunking Utopia.
First, I believe the term “Capitalist” is a term coined by Marx, if I recall that correctly.
Second, all bets are off with Sweden since they invited thousands and hundreds of thousands of “Migrants” into their welfare state. When we were traveling between France and Britain in 2015 we learned that the “migrants” trying to sneak into Britain by stowing away on trains going through the Chunnel were trying to get there because “The salary is better ” The “salary,” of course is the welfare payment,
Malmo is now a very dangerous place due to the migrants seeking welfare. Sweden may have to rethink their social contract.
The correct term is “corporatist”. It doesn’t mean “rule/control by corporations”, however. It refers to society being a body. Basically, industry/owners aren’t allowed to abuse labor (such as replacing locals with foreigners) and labor doesn’t murder capitalists in a communist revolution.
There are right-wing corporatist of various stripes. Left-wing is “social corporatism”, right-wing is “Christian corporatism”. It originally began with the Catholic church.
As the joke goes, back when they really were leaning towards socialism, a Scandinavian economist told Milton Friedman, “in Scandinavia we have no poverty.” Friedman replied, “that’s interesting, because in America among Scandinavians, we have no poverty either.”