In addition to the previous post

Somewhat Denmark and Finland are worse off than their neighbors. I didn't think about that, but their governments spend more than Sweden and Norway. Norway is a resource-economy, so it may not be fair to compare it to its neighbors. The Swedish government obviously spends much less than Denmark and Finland, but the labour market performances in terms of unemployment rate are about the same. How? The secret seems to lie in exchange rates. Sweden has devalued its Krona since the crisis while Finland has adopted the euro and Denmark has pegged its krone to the euro. As a result, the relative prices of Swedish goods have fallen and are more competitive than Finnish or Danish goods. It might give Sweden better leverage in overcoming the crisis. Since Finland and Denmark are tied to euro, their governments have had to nothing but spend more. Swedes seem to enjoy their monetary sovereignty.