Increasingly, all European countries share such an institutional environment. However, The Transparency International rates the Nordic countries in the top ten at to the transparency and integrity of their public sector. 6  5. The importance of education and research and development  So, good policies, sound institutions and some luck go far in explaining the strong performance of the Nordic countries.
However, by digging a bit deeper, we can see also the  5  For a more comprehensive assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the "Scandinavian Model", see e.g. Chapter 4 in the EEAG Report on the European Economy 2007, prepared by the European Economic Advisory Group at CESifo.