Capitalism is working better in Finland (with Anu Partanen and Trevor Corson)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2021

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Contrary to popular belief, Nordic countries aren’t actually socialist! No, friends, the Nords are capitalists—but they pull it off much better than we do. To help re-imagine American capitalism, writers Anu Partanen and Trevor Corson join us this week all the way from Finland. This episode was originally recorded and posted in February 2020. Anu Partanen is a journalist and the author of The Nordic Theory of Everything. The book debunks some of the most common myths about Nordic societies and discusses what the United States might be able to borrow from aspects of Nordic success in the twenty-first century. She has written for The New York Times and The Atlantic. Twitter: @anupartanen Trevor Corson is an award-winning author and editor. His articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and many more. Twitter: @TrevorCorson Further reading: The Nordic Theory of Everything: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062316547 Finland Is a Capitalist Paradise: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/07/opinion/sunday/finland-socialism-capitalism.html What Americans Don’t Get About Nordic Countries: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/bernie-sanders-nordic-countries/473385/ Capitalism Redefined: https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/31/capitalism-redefined/ Safe, happy and free: does Finland have all the answers? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/12/safe-happy-and-free-does-finland-have-all-the-answers Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, pitchfork listeners. This week we're re-broadcasting one of my favorite episodes, our conversation
0:07.1	with Anu Partonin, the author of the Nordic theory of everything and her husband and fellow
0:14.5	journalists Trevor Corson. One of the things I learned from our conversation and from Anu's book
0:20.6	is that I am a secret Nord. It turns out that the Nordic countries aren't actually socialist.
0:27.7	No, the Nord's are actually capitalist. It's a different kind of capitalism and they pull it
0:32.5	off much better than we do here in America. We talked to them back in February of 2020
0:40.0	about some of the common myths about Nordic societies and about the United States and about how
0:46.7	we can learn a lesson from the Nord's in re-imagining American capitalism for the 21st century.
0:54.1	One of the things that a Nordic person I think noticed is quickly when you come to America how
0:57.9	much Americans talk about freedom. But the longer I lived in the United States and the more I
1:02.0	observed the life around me, it didn't seem to me that Americans were actually that free.
1:06.0	I look at the finished model and I say free health care, free day care, good public schools,
1:11.6	free college and long-term care when you get old. That's the type of market capitalism for me and
1:17.7	none of these things are out of reach for Americans. From the offices of civic ventures in downtown
1:29.0	Seattle, this is Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer, a pointed conversation about who gets what
1:35.7	and why, with one of America's most provocative capitalists. I'm Nick Hanauer, founder of Civic Ventures.
1:46.0	I'm David Goldstein, senior fellow at Civic Ventures.
1:52.2	So Nick, back in, was it like May of 2014 when you first had me into the office and talk about
1:59.1	working with you? Was it that long ago? It was that long ago. Good God. You brought me on board,
2:05.0	as you explained it to me to help you with your mission to redefine capitalism. Correct.
2:11.2	But when I talk to people about the stuff we're working on and the things we support that we want
2:17.0	some sort of health care, universal health care for everybody, we want to raise wages, we want to
	...

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