One of the more pronounced differences with earlier periods is that Sweden has broken the pattern of high inflation, recurrent cost crises and devaluations that characterised the 1970s and 1980s. Surveys and other information indicate that for some time now, households and firms have adapted their inflation expectations to the Riksbank’s target. In that it influences the behaviour of those who set prices and wages, this in itself assists our endeavours to keep inflation down. Estimates by the Riksbank suggest, moreover, that the long-term component of inflation decreased appreciably in the 1990s, in which case there is a more permanent restraining force that is not directly dependent on how the real economy is functioning. But as I mentioned earlier, there are good grounds for supposing that a low, stable path for inflation can generate positive indirect effects on the real economy. There are also certain signs that the cyclical fluctuations in inflation - and not just its average level - have been smoothed in recent years. 5  BIS Review 18/2000  Thus, there are some indications that the present cyclical upswing will not generate the same acceleration of inflation as its predecessors. But as output in the Swedish economy has been below the sustainable trend ever since the beginning of the 1990s - so that what we have experienced, strictly speaking, is a long period of low activity - it is difficult to tell whether the behaviour of inflation over a complete cycle has in fact changed.
Sweden also tops the United States in the domain of mobile Internet, as witness both Microsoft’s decision to locate the development of such systems here and the first WAP phones in Swedish shops. Internet use in Sweden is also well in line with the United States. Market surveys by IT consultants admittedly indicate that in relation to total retailing, Internet shopping for goods is somewhat higher in the United States but Sweden is ahead of many other countries in Europe. Most of the portals and e-commerce sites are also American. But a considerably higher proportion of Swedish banking is done on the Internet and Sweden has been an early starter with models for Internet business-to-business transactions. We also know that in the latter part of the 1990s, IT-related sectors, including the successful telecom industry, accounted for almost a tenth of manufacturing output in Sweden. Figures from the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries show a remarkable increase during the decade, from a share of just over 2% in 1993 to more than 12% in 1999. According to the same source, one fifth of Sweden’s GDP growth from 1995 to 1998 came from the IT and telecom sector. Comparing statistics can be difficult but a similar indicator - from the Department of Commerce - of the IT and telecom sector’s share of GDP growth in the United States shows that in the same period this sector made approximately the same contribution there. 3.2 Another important aspect in America has been efficient markets and strong competition.