Soaring food prices, interest rate shocks and real wage cuts. Economic conditions have changed considerably over the past year.
The shift has led to many households cutting back on expenses and in several places there has been talk about how the middle class can no longer live as the upper class.
But Lisa Irenius, cultural director at Svenska Dagbladet, believes instead that it is influencers – not the upper class – who have changed the way material success is displayed.
"Completely unreasonable" picture of consumption
"The ideals of the middle class have not been shaped by the upper class, but by an influencer class that has conveyed an image of consumption and of how much we should consume that is completely unreasonable," she says in Ekonomibyrån.
Entrepreneur Isabella Löwengrip, who broke through with the blog Blondinbella, agrees that influencers contributed to people starting to display more with their consumption.
"The middle class has lived beyond its means. Not that you pretend to be influencers, but people have used their accounts to show how far you've come and what you can afford to do," she says.
Don't want to blame influencers
But according to Isabella Löwengrip, it is also about the fact that Sweden has been in an "extreme economic boom".
"Many private individuals have made a lot of money and seen the value of their homes increase. Then you have felt rich and felt: "I can even buy a boat right now, it's so cheap with money."
What responsibility do you influencers have?
"You can't blame us. It is not we who have caused the middle class to start consuming more and getting into debt.
Don't miss Ekonomibyrån's latest episode Ugly to be rich? on SVT Play.