Tag Archives: sweden

Why not make speed cameras reward good drivers?

By Mark Pack | Published 3rd October 2010 - 5:55 pm

Carrot or stick? It’s a common policy debate – do you get the best outcome by punishing or encouraging?

Speed cameraAt the moment, it most frequently comes up in political debates over the environment, and in particular recycling. Can recycling levels best be raised by encouragement, such as discounts for recycling more of your waste, or by threats, such as legal limits on how much you can place in your bins?

It is a question that can be applied much more widely, which is why I was interested …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | 36 Comments

Deficit cutting the Swedish way

By Mark Pack | Published 16th June 2010 - 10:20 am

Running Canada a close second as the current country of choice to look at for deficit cutting lessons is Sweden. As I previously looked at the Canadian experience, now it’s the turn of Sweden.

The think tank Bruegel has published a pamphlet from Jens Henriksson about the Swedish experience of turning a budget deficit of over 11% of GDP into a surplus. He was a policy adviser to the Swedish government during this period.

The pamphlet spreads over more than 40 pages, though politically the most important point is made by him right at the start:

[This] is not a paper about how

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Opinion: A Swedish lesson for Gordon Brown

By Niklas Smith | Published 23rd April 2010 - 10:25 am

So far in British political debates the word “Swedish” is usually bandied about in support of “free schools” by the Conservatives. But you won’t see anything about schools in this post – instead I will highlight a different political lesson from Sweden.

In 2006 the centre-right Alliance for Sweden (which includes our sister party) ended twelve years of Social Democratic government; this was only the third time that the centre-right has defeated a Social Democratic government since the Second World War. An important factor in the victory was …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International, Op-eds | Also tagged , | Leave a comment

Conservative policy making informed by TV detective series

By Sara Bedford | Published 18th January 2010 - 12:15 pm

Today’s FT has an interview with wannabe Chancellor George Osborne, where he once again fails to give any real details of the Conservatives’ economic plans, should they win the next election. Osborne talks about his admiration for Sweden, although he is unable to put his finger on exactly why, saying:

“I’m no expert on Swedish society but I am a regular viewer now of Wallander”.

What next: Chris Grayling telling the Daily Mail that he is changing the Conservatives’ policies on drugs after catching up with a few episodes of Van der Valk?

Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments