Nordic societies have simply taken the job of government seriously

Overall the secret to Nordic success is not complicated. Nordic societies have simply taken the job of government seriously. They make mistakes and have their troubles, but they keep tweaking their systems in search of improvements, and they work hard to balance the books. They prove that there is nothing inherent in government that automatically makes it less efficient for arranging social services than the private sector.

— Anu Partanen, 2016

From the book The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life