Martin De Vlieghere, writing in Brussels Journal, mounts a vigorous critique of the "myths of the Scandinavian model". He sees the Nordic welfare states as bloated, fiscally overburdened and in long term economic decline. He seems irritated at the way the virtues of the Scandinavian model are promoted by think tanks endowed with EU funding. By contrast he praises the "Irish model" as the "efficient alternative" by showing "that a substantial lowering of the taxation level can become the motor for launching even the most slackish economy into full gear". His glowing portrait of Ireland is not one that I recognise. He says that "in barely 18 years Ireland jumped from the 22nd to the 4th place in the OECD prosperity ranking". And we didn't even have to reduce our social welfare benefits.
I know that models are supposed to be schematic and their purpose is to simplify but there is a lot of distortion in the way De Vlieghere presents the Irish case. The figures he cites say nothing about the pockets of endemic poverty and deprivation, the growing insecurity of many and the increasing levels of inequality. To imply that the Irish economic boom was caused by slashing taxes is simply not true. There are many reasons for the Celtic Tiger, some were deliberate acts of state policy, others quite fortuitous. In any case coincidence is not causation.
Rather bizarrely, De Vlieghere refers to the Irish system of "fair tax" by which he means that there is less emphasis on taxing labour and profit and slightly more on taxing consumption. Not a word here about the extent to which rent seeking activities go untaxed and how the wealthy benefit enormously from all manner of tax incentives. The National Competitiveness Council recently recommended broadening the tax base and phasing out tax incentives for property investment. It also sees a need for widening the revenue base of local authorities, subject to substantial and continuing reform. De Vlieghere argues that the Scandinavian model places severe burdens on wealth creation and enterprise, largely due to the way they structure their tax and welfare systems, ensuring that incentives and rewards for enterprise and labour are considerably less that what they are in the more dynamic Irish model. But his oversimplified Irish model just creates another myth.
Note - For a more nuanced treatment of various European experiences of unemployment, see here.