Major economic reforms in Sweden have encompassed comprehensive tax reform, deregulation of product and service markets, reform of the wage-bargaining process, the establishment of a stricter fiscal framework, changes in the monetary regime and general labout market reforms. The Swedish experiences only provide limited support for the view that deep economic crisis is a prerequisite for fundamental reforms. Instead, most of the reforms have been made in response to long-standing problems rather than to acute problems. However, some of the reforms were facilitated by the EU accession, which was arguably triggered by the deep economic crisis in the first half of the 1990's. In most cases, there has been a strong perception among economists, policy makers and the general public of the problems that the reforms have sought to address. Reforms in other countries have provided inspiration in several cases. Most of the reforms have been based on a broad political consensus. A specific feature of Swedish decision-making on reforms is the frequent use of heavy input from economic research as a basis for change.
The paper has appeared in “Cambia Italia. Come fare le riforme e tornare crescere” published by the publishing house S.I.P.I. SpA and is reproduced here with the express authorisation of the Editor.(Svezia: il cambio di marcia con le riforme, in Cambia Italia, Come fare le riforme e tornare a crescere, Centro Studi, Confindustria, Rome: S.I.P.I. SpA.)Also published as CESifo Working Paper 3790. It has also been published in the IIES Seminar Paper Series in 2012, No. 770.