Bad economic news is drummed up so that the sense of proportionality disappears.
Economic policy self-flagellation seems to have become a Finnish folk hobby. Bad economic news, of which there is enough, is drummed up in such a way that the sense of proportion disappears. Simple conclusions are drawn from simple indicators.
Take, for example, the amount of gross domestic product per capita, which is a popular measure of economic development. Last year, according to forecasts, it was roughly at the level of 2008. Fifteen years of zero growth, you could say.
However, when interpreting this startling fact, it is worth remembering at least two points. The first is that fifteen years of weak economic development is explained above all by the economic downturn after the financial crisis in 2008–2015. Its main reason was the negative Nokia shock: the decline and end of the company's mobile phone production.
In the years 2015–2023, the real gross national product per capita has instead grown in Finland at the average rate of the euro area and faster than, for example, in Germany, France and Sweden.
Another thing to remember is that Finland's population has aged faster in recent years than in many comparison countries. Therefore, the performance of the Finnish economy looks better when the gross domestic product is compared to the working-age population (15–64 years old) and not to the entire population.
According to the European Commission's November economic forecast, the amount of gross domestic product per working-age person in Finland was 12.6 percent higher last year than in 2015. The growth was higher than the average in the euro area (11.8 percent) or, for example, in Italy (11.5 percent), Spain (11.0 percent ), Sweden (9.3 percent), France (8.9 percent) and Germany (8.1 percent). And when looking at the growth of the years 2000–2023, of the aforementioned reference countries, Finland is surpassed only by Sweden.
Finland's economy is better than its current reputation. Reasonability is also a good principle when discussing financial problems.
Sakari Heikkinen
emeritus professor of economic history, University of Helsinki
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