The Nordic Theory of Everything

Anu Partanen, a Finnish journalist, opens with a scene from the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative Conference, where former president Bill Clinton directed his questions about twenty-first-century governance to Tarja Halonen, the president of Finland. Clinton singled out Finland for ranking in the top five globally in education, economic performance, wealth distribution, and opportunity. Partanen traces Finland's growing international reputation. Starting in 2000, Finnish teenagers scored at or near the top of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). A 2010 Newsweek survey named Finland the best country in the world. The other Nordic nations, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland, frequently appeared near Finland in these rankings, yet Partanen chose to leave Finland and immigrate to the United States.

Partanen recounts meeting her future husband, Trevor, an American writer, at a conference in Boston in 2006. She weighed what she would give up in Finland, including universal health care, paid parental leave, affordable day care, free education, and generous vacation time, against her love for Trevor and the excitement of New York. She moved to the United States in late 2008, arriving just after the Lehman Brothers collapse, and soon experienced intense anxiety. Confusing bank fees, opaque credit card terms, and a bewildering tax system left her feeling lost. She notes that this unease is widely shared: Nearly one in five American adults has an anxiety disorder, and a 2006 study found that 46 percent of American women seriously feared ending up homeless.

Settling into American life, Partanen identifies entrenched forms of dependency that undermine the freedom the country celebrates. American parents micromanage their children's education while grown children later shoulder the burden of managing aging parents' care. Marriage functions as a financial pact: The tax system rewards joint filing, and women's pursuit of well-paid husbands reflects structural necessity rather than materialism. Workers depend on employers for health insurance and pensions, giving employers outsized power. Partanen argues that a fourth relationship, between government and citizen, underlies the other three, and that the real problem is not the size of government but how it is used.

To explain these contrasts, Partanen introduces the Nordic theory of love, drawing on the work of Lars Trägårdh, a Swedish historian who lived in the United States for decades. Trägårdh and co-author Henrik Berggren formulated the idea that authentic love and friendship are possible only between individuals who are independent and equal. Partanen argues that the overarching ambition of Nordic societies has not been to socialize the economy but to free individuals from all forms of dependency, so that relationships can be driven by love rather than obligation. She illustrates this through the children's book character Pippi Longstocking, created by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren: Because Pippi is completely self-sufficient, her friendships are genuine gifts, freely given. Nordic citizens support this system out of self-interest, not altruism, because it provides maximum personal autonomy.

Partanen compares American and Nordic approaches to family life, contrasting an American acquaintance named Jennifer, who navigated employer-dependent maternity leave and a $14,400 annual day-care bill, with a Finnish acquaintance named Hanna, who received comprehensive prenatal care and a hospital stay costing about $375. As of 2014, the United States and Papua New Guinea were the only countries out of 185 surveyed by the United Nations that guaranteed no paid maternity leave. Nordic countries reserve portions of parental leave exclusively for fathers, encouraging shared parenting, and Nordic women participate in the workforce at higher rates than American women because affordable day care and realistic leaves prevent the stark choice between exhaustion and dropping out of the workforce entirely.

Turning to education, Partanen traces Finland's transformation from a country with stark educational inequality to a global leader. Before the 1970s, Finland had a two-track system of "folk schools" and tuition-charging "grammar schools" that entrenched class divisions. Despite fierce debate, Finland unified its schools in the 1970s, treating education as a basic human right. Pasi Sahlberg, a leading Finnish education expert, notes that virtually no private schools exist in Finland. All teachers must hold a master's degree, and Finnish schools have no standardized tests, no rankings, and assign little homework. Schools provide free meals, health care, and tutoring. Finland funds its schools through broad-based taxation, directing extra resources to disadvantaged municipalities, while American schools rely on local property taxes that cement inequality. Despite spending less per student, Finland achieves better outcomes.

On health care, Partanen recounts losing her Finnish insurance four months after moving, which left her uninsured and dependent on Trevor's employment for coverage. She argues that American health care creates unhealthy dependencies on employers, spouses, and family members. The United States spends two and a half times more per person than Finland, yet American outcomes in life expectancy, infant mortality, and preventable deaths are similar to or worse than Nordic results. She tells the story of Genny, a Texas nurse diagnosed with stage III colon cancer whose insurance company's billing errors and coverage gaps left her with tens of thousands of dollars in unexpected charges despite having insurance.

Partanen addresses taxation by contrasting the American concept of a "welfare state" with the Finnish hyvinvointivaltio, or "well-being state," designed to provide equal opportunity. An OECD analysis shows that average Finns pay income taxes only about six percentage points higher than average Americans. When comparing spending on social services including health care, pensions, and child care, the United States spends almost as much as Sweden relative to gross domestic product, while Finland, Denmark, and Norway spend less, meaning Nordic countries deliver these services more efficiently. She cites political scientist Suzanne Mettler's research on "the submerged state," showing that 96 percent of Americans who denied using government programs had in fact used at least one.

Partanen examines income inequality, citing research that between 2009 and 2012, the top 1 percent captured more than 90 percent of America's income gains. Finnish economist Markus Jäntti found that 40 percent of American men born into the lowest income bracket stayed there, compared with 25 percent in Nordic countries. She tells the story of Kaarina, a Finnish freelance writer whose husband died of cancer, leaving her with two children and no life insurance. Because of Finland's social policies, the family's standard of living remained intact, a scenario Partanen argues would be nearly impossible in the United States.

To counter claims that Nordic policies stifle innovation, Partanen profiles Supercell, a Helsinki-based mobile game company that sold a majority stake to Japan's SoftBank for $1.5 billion. CEO Ilkka Paananen encourages employees to leave by 5:00 p.m. and cites Finland's education, health care, and public innovation funding as competitive advantages. Finland's corporate tax rate of 20 percent is lower than America's 39 percent, and Finnish companies need not provide health insurance or pension benefits. Partanen lists prominent Nordic companies, from Ikea and Volvo to LEGO and Nokia, as evidence that generous social policies and global business success coexist.

In her final chapter, Partanen challenges American conceptions of success. She contrasts America's emphasis on being special with the Scandinavian "Law of Jante," a literary set of commandments discouraging anyone from thinking they are better than others. She acknowledges the downsides of Nordic conformity but argues that without universal support structures, being special becomes a survival requirement rather than an aspiration. She cites Trägårdh's analysis of World Values Survey data showing Sweden at the highest end of the spectrum for valuing individual self-realization, with the United States significantly lower. Partanen concludes that true freedom is not the rugged individualism of the lone cowboy but the assurance that all individuals have real opportunity and protection from bad luck.

In the epilogue, Partanen describes her naturalization ceremony on November 6, 2013, at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, where she took the oath alongside immigrants from around the world. She reflects on the privilege of choosing to accept America's ideals of freedom and justice without being asked to change who she is, closing with a fellow new citizen's parting words: "Enjoy America. I hope you like it."