Sweden is a social-democratic beacon with one of the world's deepest stock markets. Contradiction? Martino Comelli argues that welfare states actively build financial markets through social policy design. Funded pensions and housing subsidies create investable assets; generous public pensions crowd finance out. The same spending level can produce radically different capitalisms
Across Europe, mainstream conservative parties are edging closer to ultranationalists and far-right populists. Many see this as a sudden turn. But Martino Comelli argues its roots are part of Christian Democratic strategy DNA. Historically, this strategy has balanced market liberalism with the desire to constrain mass politics
Christian democracy is the political culture that has been the driving force behind European integration. Yet, according to Martino Comelli, it has also facilitated the democratic backsliding of some countries of central and east Europe by providing an illiberal political toolbox of narratives and policies
You might think the US would be world champion of household debt, yet the highest private indebtment has always been in the Nordic countries, where inclusive welfare makes debt into an investment. But debt takes on different forms, writes Martino Comelli, and gerontocratic welfare and consumer credit is a burden for those in other nations
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