Abstract
In 2015, Sweden changed course, from having one of Europe’s most open policies toward refugees to imposing sharp restrictions. This chapter explores this shift by focusing on the underlying economic policy paradigm. Swedish public debate and economic policy are framed by the idea that tax money is scarce and that the state should maintain a balanced budget. Higher spending on immigration is expected to come at the expense of the welfare state. Each immigrant is thought to impose a cost on society until they can find work; meanwhile employment levels are held back by the austere fiscal regime. The result is an increase in anti-immigration sentiments and calls for welfare chauvinism. Only those who have “paid in” to the system are deemed worthy of benefits in return. It is easy to see why opponents of immigration would adopt this zero-sum frame. It is harder to see why it would be used by immigration proponents. To explain this puzzle, the theory of policy paradigms is invoked. A paradigm that is more amenable to cosmopolitanism is explored in the frame of functional finance.
