The dark side of the Nordic model

Jason Hickel University of London Scandinavian countries may top every ranking on human development, but they are a disaster for the environment. Scandinavians have it all. Universal public healthcare and education that is the envy of the world. Reasonable working hours with plenty of paid vacation. They have some of the highest levels of happiness on the planet, and top virtually every ranking of human development. The Nordic model stands as a clear and compelling contrast to the neoliberal ideology that has strafed the rest of the industrialized world with inequality, ill health, and needless poverty. As an antidote to the most destructive aspects of free-market capitalism, the egalitarian social dem