When I first read reviews of Nima Sanandaji’s Debunking Utopia: Exposing the Myth of Nordic Socialism a couple of years ago, I found most of the reported claims of the book fairly uninteresting. For instance, Sanandaji argues that Nordic longevity is partially caused by healthy lifestyles, not just high-quality public health care (which Sanandaji nonetheless thinks is a good idea — “I am myself in favor of the public sector providing health care”). Characterizing this point as “debunking” seems a bit much insofar as I’ve never seen anyone argue that the presence of public health care is the sole determinant of lifespans.

After wading through uninteresting tidbits like this and the vague handwaving that is typical of this genre (homogeneity, egalitarian culture, etc.), Sanandaji does end up making one very interesting claim that he relies upon throughout the book and which is the central point of most of the reviews I have read: Nordic equality precedes the welfare state and (implicitly) has little to do with it.

Here’s Sanandaji: