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Erik Angner

7 Dec, 7 tweets, 2 min read

One of the most long-standing critiques of Swedish corona policy is that it is, represents, or results from, some kind of national chauvinism. The critique gets it backwards, but it's interesting anyway: it's basically the most Swedish objection ever. /1

The line "Sweden has picked the worst possible time to experiment with national chauvinism" appeared at the very beginning of the pandemic, alongside the new term of art "public-health nationalism," e.g. in this piece. (It's been repeated many times.) /2
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…

The basic argument is that (a) Swedish policy results from the premiss that Sweden or Swedes are better and/or more informed than others, and (b) that the premiss is false: it isn't any better, and they aren't any better informed, than anybody else. /3

https://twitter.com/ErikAngner/status/1272834134453424128?s=20

On the merits, (a) is demonstrably false. If anything, the Swedish public-health agency had *lower* confidence in Swedes' ability to stop the spread of covid-19 than their international counterparts. By mid-March of 2020 it had given up entirely. /4

https://twitter.com/ErikAngner/status/1272834134453424128?s=20

https://twitter.com/JacobGudiol/status/1389118654231556098?s=20

Here are data on chauvinism across Europe, fwiw. /5

https://twitter.com/JacobGudiol/status/1389118654231556098?s=20

Anyway, what makes the critique the most Swedish thing ever is (b). It's a version of the famous Law of Jante: "Don't think you're special!" "Don't think you're better than anybody else!" "Don't stand out!" /6
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Ja…

So the critique is interesting – but not for the reasons its authors think. /fin

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More from @ErikAngner

Erik Angner

@ErikAngner

4 Dec

This is great: One community increased vaccination rates from 49 to 67 percent simply by having trusted health-care partners call people up and address their concerns in a culturally sensitive way.
dn.se/sverige/vaccin…

When you talk to people, you learn things. For example, many young women in this community believed, falsely, that the vaccine causes infertility. When trusted health-care partners explained that was not true, the women were more likely to get vaccinated.

Now imagine that the community had jumped straight to vaccine mandates instead. These women would have been left with the impression that the government was trying to force them to take a drug that could make them infertile. That would have been very bad!

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Erik Angner

@ErikAngner

19 Nov

https://twitter.com/ErikAngner/status/1461610137198768129

Quick English summary: There is no doubt that mandates and monetary rewards can motivate people to get vaccinated. Money in particular is an excellent incentive. But! /1

https://twitter.com/ErikAngner/status/1461610137198768129

The benefits risk being temporary. Suppose you offer your teenage kid a tenner to take out the trash. It's pretty likely they will, in fact, take out the trash. That's not the problem. /2

The problem concerns what will happen the next time you ask them to do their chores. There is some danger that they will never again agree to take out the trash unless they're paid to do so. /3

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Erik Angner

@ErikAngner

9 Nov

Conservatives attacking the modern University might wish to reflect on the fact that it has got to be one of the most successful spontaneous orders of all time. /1

It's spontaneous in the sense that although it is the result of human action, it is not the result of human design. It's not as though the current mode of organization was envisioned and intended back when the University was founded in the 12th century. /2

It's successful in the sense that it has spectacular staying power. The University (still going strong at ~900 years of age) is older than the nation state (~400 years), the stock market (~250 years), and the corporation (~200 years). /3
britannica.com/topic/universi…

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Erik Angner

@ErikAngner

21 Sep

My father, Jan Angner, died at age 75 in an offshore sailing incident on August 26. A Twitter memorial. /1

An experienced sailor, Jan was on his way from Lickershamn (Gotland) to Häradsskär near the mainland, when something went terribly wrong. The boat veered off course, and hit outlying rocks several nautical miles Southwest of where he was headed. It sunk shortly thereafter. /2

The search-and-rescue operation launched the following day was massive. It involved units from Swedish Rescue (Sjöräddningen), the Coast Guard, the Navy, and the Police; multiple airplanes and helicopters; several canine units; and a small flotilla of vessels of various sizes. /3

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Erik Angner

@ErikAngner

18 May

This article remains the best discussion of the ethical underpinnings of Swedish corona strategy, if anyone is still interested. The author is a leading political scientist, formerly of Uppsala University, and a long-standing member of policy circles. /1
dn.se/debatt/sverige…

The central normative ideas behind the Swedish legal framework that governed the response were equality, dignity, and autonomy – and the notion that human beings must never be treated as mere means, but always as ends in themselves. /2

This normative framework inspired the view that the best way to deal with challenges is to equip citizens with the information and other resources that would allow them to do the right thing of their own volition, rather than relying on mandates and bans to force them to. /3

Read 8 tweets