New Economist has been indulging himself (actually, truth be known he wants us to indulge him) with three posts on the Nordic Model (here, here and here).

Two things strike me. Firstly the fact that the UK presidency has been an absolute non-event (except for getting the Turkey negotiations started) since we were promised an ambitious programme of debate about precisely the topic of the EU social and economic model.

Secondly, as the last paper cited by New Economist makes clear:

The analysis also provides strong support for so-called absolute β-convergence among the Nordic countries. Thus, initial differences between the countries, in terms of real output per employee, real output per hour, and real wage per employee, slowly fade away over time. This finding tells us that the Nordic countries are not that different when it comes to saving rates, levels of the technology, and government policies.

Which means, of course, that these countries would have been ideal candidates for forming a currency union. Oh well, things that might have been! (Also it is perhaps worth making a mental note to check out more about that Nordic recession in the early 90s and what happened next).