Debunking Utopia

At first glance, Nordic countries seem to have everything liberals want to see in America: equal income distribution, good health, low levels of poverty, and thriving economies, all co-existing with big welfare states. By copying Nordic policies, many in the American left hope to transform America to a similar socialist "utopia."

In Debunking Utopia, Swedish author Nima Sanandaji explains why this is all wishful thinking. He systematically proves that the high levels of income equality, high lifespans and other signs of social success in the Nordics all predate the expansion of the welfare state. If anything, the Nordic countries reached their peak during the mid-twentieth century, when they had low taxes and small welfare states. Perhaps most astonishing are his findings that Nordic-Americans consistently outperform their cousins who live across the ocean. People of Nordic descent who live under the American capitalist system not only enjoy higher levels of income, but also a lower level of poverty than the citizens of the Nordic countries themselves.

Nima Sanandaji

Dr. Nima Sanandaji is an author and researcher of Kurdish-Iranian origin who migrated to Sweden as a child. He grew up with welfare support and personally experienced how the welfare state with one hand gave the less well-off opportunities to climb the social ladder, while with the other hand unintentionally trapped them in welfare dependency. He has previously written twenty books, some of which have received international acclaim. Sanandaji is the president of the think tank European Centre for Entrepreneurship and Policy Reform.