I don’t really have a take on it (yet) but I’m reading this very interesting speech NEC Director Brian Deese gave on his vision for industrial policy. And of course answering mailbag questions!

Alex Newkirk: Are the Nordic countries socialist? If not, what exactly should we call them?

The policies are what they are, and I don’t really care what people call them.

But here’s what I think people should understand relative to the American discourse. You sometimes hear the Nordics described as if they are actually strongholds of total neoliberalism that happen to have generous welfare states. This is not really correct — the structure of the Nordic welfare state involves massive levels of public sector employment. These countries also have strong unions with sectoral bargaining, and Norway (and to a lesser extent Sweden and Finland) has fairly extensive public ownership of capital. It’s not just a welfare state.

At the same time, whether you want to call this socialism or not, what you don’t…