In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, almost every country in the world had a major recession. As this map from the IMF shows, most countries in Europe saw GDP decline by more than 3%, the only exception being Ireland (which in any case has an unusual way of counting GDP).
Despite this, unemployment in the EU only increased by a modest 1.2 percentage points, rising from 6.6% to 7.8% by the third quarter of 2020. One reason why unemployment didn’t rise more during months of lockdown is that governments spent unprecedented sums of money on furlough and other wage-support schemes.
In other words, they paid people to sit at home all day. For example, The U.K.’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme paid furloughed workers 80% of their previous salary, up to a cap of £2,500 a week.
While such wage-support schemes had the benefit of preventing large rises in unemployment, they had the cost of being extremely expensive. Data published by the ONS in January of this year show just how expensive.
The chart below shows change in general government gross debt (as a percentage of GDP) in percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2021:
Many countries saw absolutely huge increases in debt. Over just seven quarters, Spain’s debt grew by 26 percentage points, Italy’s by 21 percentage points, and Greece’s by 20 percentage points. The UK wasn’t far behind, logging an increase of 18.7 percentage points.
At the other end of the spectrum, Ireland’s debt grew by less than one percentage point, while Sweden’s grew by only 1.2 percentage points. Of course, Sweden’s strong performance comes as no surprise, given it was the only major European country that didn’t lock down in the spring.
As I noted previously, The Economist ranked Sweden third in a league table of 23 rich countries for overall economic performance during the pandemic. And we know this didn’t come at the cost of Swedish lives – the country actually saw negative excess mortality between January of 2020 and June of 2021.
To compare European countries in a comprehensive way, I plotted change in general government gross debt against age-adjusted excess mortality. (Data were not available for Germany, Ireland, Norway and Switzerland.)
Taking into account both metrics, Sweden was one of the best overall performers in Europe, along with Luxembourg, Denmark and Finland. And it was by far the best performer among countries with a population over 10 million.
By contrast, Eastern European countries and large Western European countries – almost all of which had strict lockdowns – did poorly on both metrics. So lockdown was harmful to the public finances, with little corresponding benefit in terms of reduced mortality.
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Very illuminating. The cost of abandoning Plan A.
The only redeeming feature of the Dictator and the other one is that they went to parties during what some people refer to as the lockdown
I love watching the blood pressure of the Covidian fanatics rising to bursting point as it dawns on them that their heroes were taking the piss out of them.
These people are too insensitive to get to that state. They will rationalise it to themselves and carry on.
In my experience their anger is exclusively aimed at those not blindly following rules, including our political top dogs. Absolutely zero interest in the argument it simply demonstrated those pushing lockdowns clearly knew they were a false response and did it anyway. Cummings and Ferguson are good examples.
No amount of factoids can change belief systems.
Never forget that Sweden is owned by one family, the Wallenbergs. (Everybody in Sweden knows this, and will confirm if asked.) I bet they’ve seen themselves all right since 2020 – probably building up a large holding of other countries’ debt.
‘Only’ 20% of Sweden …
But did they get the most money from pharma for the jabbing experiments? Per head the UK must have done ok
There are many ways you can bankrupt yourself. Two years ago, the UK, along with most other countries governed by self-serving, hypocritical elites with an agenda they are too crafty and gutless to openly admit to, found a novel and quite brilliant way of doing so. The brilliance lies in how they managed to bring the great majority of their populations on board to welcome and even applaud their own destruction. Just proves that when you have a flock of sheep who have been conditioned to believe any old tosh and can be bribed with their own money, you can get away with anything.
Only two ways to bankrupt yourself, actually.
Oh the humanity!!
The Dictator refuses to pay his fine and elects a hearing in the Magistrates Court
Result:
a He is found guilty and appeals to the Crown Court
b He is found not guilty and the CPS appeal it to the Crown Court
A higher court declares the rules unlawful
The Dictator as freedom fighter, now that will be a turnip for the books
(Yes I did mean turnip)
This shows us that we should never have…actually, you know what, nobody is listening.
The train rolls on to the actual intended destination.
https://hugotalks.com/2022/04/08/uk-govt-spend-millions-on-jab-passport-up-to-2024-hugo-talks/
Where are all those people who ued to infest this site telling us all that Sweden would pay a high price for being so lax?
I presume that the anonymous blob on the chart to the right of Sweden is Norway which was going to do so much better than Sweden.
The blob to the east of Sweden is Finland where I am now on a train heading to Helsinki (from Kokkola) and I can tell you it’s 90% face masks on this train. The Metro and buses in Helsinki will be the same.
Norway is to the west of Sweden, and Norway is full of road toll cameras for which you really need to pay in advance – run by Euro Parking Collection plc – so not much freedom there either, controlled by surveillance cams wherever you go.
Enjoy the beautiful women, friend
Norway, which type of roads are tolled, EF?
I think the blob that fist full was referring to was on the chart, not the map.
I’ll be at the corner of Heitalahdenranta and Bagshot Lane if you fancy a coffee.
Needless to say that I disagree with this new Sweden bashing article and study linked to below.
I link to it here just to show to which lengths and depths the lockdown establishment is now prepared to go and fall, despite of or rather because of the contrary and ever more visible evidence of Swedish reason and success in reality.
This whole thing is far from over. https://www.unz.com/lromanoff/sweden-the-covid-19-darling-bites-the-dust
Sweden, along with the rest of us, has been scheduled for demolition. Their recent assertion of their rationality and common sense is at odds with the preferred state of constant anxiety and fear while ignoring actual societal problems we could tackle to improve the lives of the majority.
To those with grand plans revolving around an unreachable technocratic elite, Sweden is an uncomfortable reminder of how tenuous their grip on power really is. They are giving the plebs ideas and that will not do.
Good on Sweden for doing the right thing.
That article is awful save for the focus on their elderly in care homes parts. They mention midazolam and point to its widespread use not just in Sweden.
Hopefully this will piss Macron and Johnson too
Clearly the Swedes are guilty of wrongthink. Should we invade?
While its good to see it confirmed, it really is a bit like Man who didn’t saw his leg off wins a*** kicking contest against those who did.
I’ve searched in vain for that heroic country in this time of madness. Sweden is only among the ‘less bad’ countries. High schools and colleges were closed. Mass gatherings were banned. Social distancing was implemented. Extended country vacations were recommended. People were paid to work from home. Even the supposed steely-eyed Tegnall seemed to regard this as a once in a century super virus.
Were schools in Sweden closed? And colleges?
Above age 15 schools were closed. And later in the game Sweden buckled further, instituting local lockdowns and mandated masks on public transport. Again, not as extreme as most other countries … but no country escaped the madness.
Some MMT idiot (a tautology) will be along later to claim we’ve hurt people’s ability to save
Destroying your own country – a special kind of evil
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/destroying-your-own-country-a-special-kind-of-evil%ef%bf%bc/
Laura Perrins
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