The Wall St. Journal’s Mary O’Grady, along with Fraser Institute Senior Fellows Steven Globerman and Matthew Mitchell, explore the reality of socialism in Denmark. Despite what some people claim, Denmark has a long history of embracing competitive markets, free trade, and limited government.

And while Denmark did experiment with socialist policies, including significantly larger government, from the 1970s to 1990s, that ended in crisis in the mid-1990s when the country was beset by high unemployment and soaring inflation.

To course correct, the Danish government reduced government spending, balanced its budget, and paid down the large debts it had incurred in the previous decades. Denmark maintains a larger welfare state than many other western countries, but it pays for this welfare state with higher taxes levied on average Danes.

This video is part of a new multimedia project, The Realities of Socialism, by the Fraser Institute in Canada, the Institute of Economic Affairs in the UK, the Institute of Public Affairs in Australia and the Fund for American Studies in the U.S.

Visit www.realitiesofsocialism.org to learn more.