Sweden sees strongest support for joining the Euro in 15 years
Sweden sees strongest support for joining the Euro in 15 years
More Swedes want to switch currency from the krona to the Euro, with support the highest it's been since 2009, according to a survey by Gothenburg University's SOM Institute.
More Swedes want to switch currency from the krona to the Euro, with support the highest it's been since 2009, according to a survey by Gothenburg University's SOM Institute.
Paywall? https://archive.is/ZXdUu
This is somewhat related:
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Another important factor to take into account is the fact that the krona was performing worse when the survey was carried out than it is now ‒ on Sunday, Bloomberg reported that the Swedish krona was the best performing of all 11 G10 currencies, the most traded currencies in the world.
Burying the lead a little bit there. Also worth noting that even then the opinion turned out to be a minority at 32%.
It wouldn't be a big change for swedes, just shave of a zero from the prices. They don't even use banknotes or coins often 😋
Kidding a bit, but it would be good if sweden joined the monetary union IMO.
Can't blame them. The Euro is managed quite reasonably. I can't speak for the Swedes but the EU only has to gain from Sweden joining the Eurozone. I've seen people comment here that giving up currency sovereignty is a terrible idea. But what does that mean? To me it simply means that in times of crisis, governments cannot simply order their central banks to print more fiat currency. This doesn't seem like a great long-term policy either.. but then again I'm not a full-time economist.
I really hope that would happen, and then there would be more pressure on Denmark to join too.
YES! YES! YES!
please keep it up. boycott anything coming from the U.S.
What?
oooops, wrong thread. apologies.
Worth noting that despite this, support is currently only 32%.
Giving up currency sovereignity is a terrible idea! That means the government has to "balance" its budget and can't print money to make up for shortfalls, forcing austerity.
The government has to balance the budget anyway, and devaluing your currency is a bit like peeing your pants. It's nice and warm for a bit and then increasingly uncomfortable.
Inflation goes up, you see capital fights because you're not a reliable currency, you increase your national debt, and you instantly make the entire population poorer than their neighbor countries.
So while there are some benefits, most economists argue against it.
I can't say if Sweden going for the Euro is good or bad for Sweden, and there's a paradox in asking people about it, because if the SEK is weak then support goes up, but it's a bad time to join because of the low value, but if the SEK is strong then support goes down, although we'd be in a much position to join.
The government has to balance the budget anyway.
This is neoliberal dogma with bad consequences for the majority. While there are plenty of economists who subscribe to it, there are plenty others who don't. Economics isn't a well proven science and as a result there are giant gaps filled with unproven hypotheses. While the primacy of budget balancing has been promoted by neoliberal economists since the 70s, evidence has been piling up against it for a while.
Given that new money is created every time a private bank gives out a loan, the only real difference between the government having the ability to create new money or not is the difference between whether the government has to seek private capital (and pay interest on it) or not. Therefore removing the ability to print your own currency is simply shifting public policy power to private capital. Most people don't have enough private capital to participate, therefore it's an increase in the political power of a minority upper class including international actors. One result of this is private capital gaining the power to force austerity by not lending money in need, then profiting from that policy by buying up government services and operating them for profit, typically as monopolies. E.g. healthcare, power, water utilities. The demand for profit means price increases which means inflation.
Therefore a responsible government should retain the ability to create its own currency, create it and destroy it by targeting metrics such as inflation and employment, not budget balances.
Inflation can be controlled. Public spending creates money and taxation destroys it, ensuring the total supply of money doesn't outstrip demand and cause inflaton. Without that sovereignty they can't create or destroy money, they are subject to the whims of the currency bloc.
It's just another tool in the toolbox. Giving it up is foolish.
Serious question. Why 15 years? Why wait so long?
Not sure if you're being serious or not, but it's not about joining in 15 years, it's that the support is the highest it's been in 15 years.
If my sarcasm-meter is broken, I apologise.
I was serious and I misread that, sorry.
Eurocrisis with the Greek debt crisis and the like happened a bit less then 15 years ago. Right now the situation with Trump and Russia is scary for Swedes, so they are rethinking their position in the world. Also it is not majority.
no thanks. we gain nothing from it.
the only party that campaigned on joining the eurozone, L, lost votes because of it.
Also we should change our official language to English. Those who want to keep old traditions alive can learn Swedish at home.
I'm not even kidding :P
Maybe it's me not being able to count, so please tell me again how many (and which) countries gave up their language since joining the Euro?
"also"
Thankfully this is a minority opinion and also mostly redundant, since most swedish people of working age speak and write English well enough for business purposes. There would be no benefit and a huge cultural heritage would be lost. Young swedish people need no extra motivation to learn english - they pick it up naturally from globalized media anyway, a lot faster than we can teach them.
The way the world is heading, it would be better to make German, French and Spanish mandatory in school instead.
Most Swedish kids do actually study German, French or Spanish. You can choose not the and read extra English and Swedish instead but that's mainly done for people already performing poorly in language, people who really don't need another language but need to master the ones they know. Some schools (including public schools) also let students study two of those languages instead of just one if they wish to. I'm currently studying French and German