Boa tarde,

em recente encontro sobre financas publicas em Sao Paulo, BRasil, foi esclarecido que ha' muito mais a se conhecer sobre os paises nordicos. Eles realmente sao modelos que muito alem de mudancas, continuam na busca da modernizacao e demonstram atitude frente aos novos tempos.Buscam novo contrato para o Estado que deve ser eficiente e traduzir-se em modelo de organizacao para os seus cidadaos.Parabens por lembrar dos que silenciosamente estao fazendo o dever de casa.

Muy interesante el comentario de Gilmar, efectivamente en contra de lo que la mayoría de la gente piensa los países nórdicos tienen ahora un modelo diferente. Muchos de sus éxitos económicos de los últimos años provienen de la introducción de las reformas de libre mercado y no de las protecciones del estado de bienestar por las que son famosos estos países. Estas profundas reformas pro-mercado, con una menor intervención del estado en la economía, son el núcleo de una segunda generación nueva de modelo nórdico que debe inspirar a Europa. El miércoles pondré una entrada en este blog sobre ese tema. Rafa

Ask a Swede, Dane or Norwegian to tell you what is special about the Nordic countries, and you will soon hear about the Nordic model of social care. Support for high rates of trade union membership, high-quality public services and high taxes seems part of the Nordic identity. The region's people expect free schooling and university education, high-quality health care, generous unemployment and sickness benefits, state-funded maternity and paternity leave, universal pensions and more. The past decade has brought important reforms to public welfare in all the Nordic countries, and further changes are bound to come in the next decade or two, prompted by ageing populations, immigration, wage and tax competition, closer ties with Europe, globalisation and other pressures. But the basic idea of paying high taxes for a generous level of public services enjoys wholehearted support, even among young voters.

The architects of the welfare state were the Social Democrats, traditionally the dominant political force in the Nordic countries. But these days they occupy the prime minister's office only in Norway. Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Iceland all have centre-right governments. Nordic people went from being among the poorest in Europe less than 150 years ago to among the richest in the world a generation ago. By the middle of the 20th century trade, shipping, forestry, iron ore, fish and pigs had generated considerable wealth; since then oil, farmed fish, cheap energy, cars, mobile phones, financial institutions and well-educated workers have added a great deal more.

Given scarce resources, the welfare state must either shrink, for example by supplementing public with private pensions, or become more efficient. The Swedes, in particular, have been experimenting for a decade in an effort to make the welfare system less cumbersome, and to offer middle-class voters more choice. That freedom of choice has become more of a basic ingredient of the welfare state.

Acabo de colgar un post titulado "Cambios en el modelo nórdico" contestando a Gilmar.
http://economy.blogs.ie.edu/archives/2007/05/cambios_en_el_m.php

me encantaria saber mas sobre la economia de Islandia..

I want to know more about Island's economics

El domingo 23 escribo sobre Islandia. Espero que te guste. Rafa