McKay (2020) argues that what makes this system work in the eyes of the citizens is the trust they hold in the government to use their money for the betterment of the people.

Andrew McKay, author of “Scandinavian Socialism; the truth of the Nordic Model” sums it up best when he states that “The Nordic Model works in Scandinavia because it’s in Scandinavia.”

A couple of things to note. First and foremost is that "Scandinavian Socialism" is not socialism. Dr. Per Bylund (a native of Sweden and former Swedish politician, now a professor of entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University), gave a lecture to the Free Enterprise Society a couple years ago entitled (Not Socialist) Sweden where he described the history of Sweden and how they tried socialism (in the 1970s, I believe) then ultimately rejected it after it wrecked their economy and their currency. Their current system embraces private property and private ownership of the means of production.

The key 'difference' between Scandinavia and the U.S. lies in the high tax burden that the Scandinavian citizens willingly accept, which enables their government to provide considerable welfare services. One of the arguments as to why this is accepted (and perhaps even embraced) within Scandinavian culture is that Scandinavian society is extremely homogenous -- in other words, there is a much stronger sense that the government is taking care of 'us' rather than taking care of 'them'.