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Figure 8

Per Capita Net Wealth

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

0

Uni ted States  United States

Finland

N orway

Sweden

(Panel Study of  (Survey of

Consumer

Income

Finance)

D ynamics)

Source: Luxembourg Wealth Survey Project.

mean that they are not as wealthy as they could

If nations are being judged on the pros-

be. It also means they trail the United States in

perity of their poorest citizens, then Nordic

almost all measures of economic success.

nations certainly are equal to the United

Last but not least, defenders of the Nordic

States. Indeed, they even have a slight advan-

Model argue that the United States suffers

tage (though even that advantage might dis-

from greater levels of income inequality.

appear if Nordic nations had US levels of

Various measures of inequality, such as Gini

immigration). But if nations are being

coefficients, confirm that "wealthy" Americans

judged on factors beyond just the well-being

earn a bigger share of the pie than upper-

on the poorest segment of the population,

income citizens in Nordic nations. But this

then the United States holds a clear edge.

data is incomplete without also looking at the

There is also some evidence that Nordic

If nations are

size of the pie.

nations are moving in the wrong direction,

being judged on

As illustrated in Figure 9, the poorest 10

particularly when compared with other

percent of Americans have about the same

European nations with smaller burdens of

factors beyond

level of income as the poorest 10 percent of

government. As one researcher explained,

just the well-being

Finns, Swedes, and Danes. Only in oil-rich

"Over the last decade, the incomes of the

Norway is there a noticeable gap (data for

poorest 10% of the population have grown

on the poorest

Iceland not available). What differentiates

eight times faster in Ireland than in Sweden,

segment of the

America from the Nordic nations is the

and six times faster in Britain. As a result, so-

population, then

income of everyone else. The rich, the middle

called Anglo-Saxon economies like Ireland

class, and the working class in the United

and the UK now for the first time have a

the United States

States enjoy higher levels of income than their

smaller proportion of their population below

holds a clear edge.

Nordic counterparts.28

the poverty line than does Sweden."29 This

10