Anders Borg was Minister of Finance in Fredrik Reinfeldt's government during the financial crisis of 2008. In his summer talk, he talks about the corona pandemic and Sweden's actions, based on his experience of an economic crisis.
It is too early to evaluate whether Sweden has chosen the right strategy, says Anders Borg, but believes that Sweden has coped with the crisis better than other countries from economic terms.
- My conclusion as an economist is that Sweden has survived the corona with significantly less damage to society and people's everyday lives. The countries that have been most closed down are likely to experience the greatest decline in welfare and the highest unemployment.
"Mass panic on social media"Anders Borg thinks that populist leaders in other countries have acted carelessly by shutting down the entire society, just to show action.
"This is perhaps the first time we have experienced a massive crisis where misguided political reactions and mass panic on social media have contributed to millions of lost jobs," he says.
At the same time, Anders Borg praises the government's handling of the crisis.
- The government and the Ministry of Finance have acted quickly and have shown their willingness to rethink when things have gone wrong. Stefan Löfven and Magdalena Andersson have sought broad co-operation in the Riksdag, Annie Lööf and Nyamko Sabuni have participated in the negotiations and contributed to Sweden having acted wisely.
"After the financial crisis we did too little"Anders Borg believes that the state has an important role to play in getting the economy back on its feet after the crisis, and that a deficit in the Treasury is reasonable.
- Now we must protect the country, then we must start collecting in the barns for the next blow.
What worries Anders Borg the most is the rising unemployment, and at that point he is self-critical.
- After the financial crisis, we did too little to reform the labor market. It is crucial that the mistake is not made again.