Sweden Joining the European Union When the European Union EU was formed in 1993 along with the incorporation of the European Economic Community it was supposed to open up doors in Europe for better trade and overall improving the lives of its people Currently there are some countries that are debating whether staying in the EU is still a beneficial thing for their nation To determine whether it was an overall beneficial choice for Sweden to join the EU snapshots of world development indicators a few years before and after the date can be looked at Based on indicators such as cash surplus deficit foreign direct investment GDP growth and others I believe that it was overall a positive choice for the Swedish government to join the EU Before Sweden joined the EU it was apart of the European Free Trade Association EFTA There were several beneficial aspects to leaving the EFTA that Sweden s Nordic neighbors and it founded for joining the EU though Members of the EFTA did not have all the free trade barriers removed as EU members did which would be a costly expense to an EFTA government trying to trade with a EU nation Another large expense was that EFTA policies highly subsidized their farmers with wages larger than world market prices as well as having high import taxes so that farmers would not have to worry about outside competition Flam 1995 While this benefits agricultural businesses it put a costly strain on governments that could ve exported its produce to other countries and imported produce from other countries more cost efficiently using the EU free trade policies With more competition in the market as well it would drive down prices for the everyday consumer and allow them to spend money on other necessities Switching to the EU also was predicted to save Sweden an estimated 3 5 of their exported goods value due to not having to file paperwork that states the country of origin on all products Flam 1995 With the EU encompassing an increasing number of countries in Europe it only made sense to leave the EFTA and switch to the EU as to be able to better integrate for trade with the economic powerhouses of Europe like Germany France and the United Kingdom In the early 1990s Sweden was experiencing an economic crisis as a bubble created from real estate lending by banks burst which caused its currency to crash and interest rates to shoot up to as high as 500 percent Dougherty 2008 When Sweden officially became a EU member on January 1 1995 there was still a lot of repairing to do but joining the EU certainly helped boost the economy again At the beginning of 1995 Sweden was seeing an annual cash deficit of 6 7 but in only three years after joining the EU that turned into a 1 0 cash surplus World Bank n d This was aided by the free trade that Sweden was now seeing due to switching from EFTA to EU membership In 1992 while still apart of the EFTA Sweden only saw a 2 2 growth on its annual exports of goods and services but after the first year of being in the EU that jumped up to an annual growth of 11 1 World Bank n d Joining the EU drew Sweden closer together with its European neighbors with such low tariff rates that trade was more accessible and cost efficient Perhaps one of the larger benefits of joining the EU was that foreign investment in Sweden flooded in Once a member of the EU foreign investors are given a sense of certainty that their investment will remain stable and seek the free trade that a mutual EU country would allow them Invest in EU n d In 1992 the foreign investment going into Sweden was actually a negative drain on the country at 5 4 million After joining the EU that number skyrocked to a net inflow of 14 9 billion and only continued to grow reaching 20 billion in 1998 World Bank n d An inflow of money that extensive allowed the country to allocate more funds into health and education programs to increase the quality of life for their citizens In fact from 1992 to 1998 Sweden raised the amount of money spent on healthcare by 25 OECD n d With the amount of money being spent on healthcare rising and the free trade associated with EU membership better and or cheaper supplies could now be imported to Sweden Along with the money spent on healthcare rising the morality rate of children under five dropped along with it From 1992 to 1998 Sweden saw a morality rate of children under five years old go from 6 1 per 1 000 live births to only 4 2 World Bank n d With pregnant women and young children being able to receive a higher quality of service children that would eventually work and pay into Sweden s economy had a better chance of survival Not only was hospital care improved with more money in the healthcare budget but the technology and preventive care in dentistry had also improved One of the most used methods in oral studies to determine cavities as well as perceive how good dental treatment is in a population is the decayed missing filled DMF index In 1992 a few years before joining the EU the average number of decayed missing or filled teeth in children age 12 was 1 6 and by 1998 a few years after joining the EU that number had shrank by 38 to only 1 tooth per child OECD n d An overall positive growth in multiple fields of health is no doubt a sign that the economic growth provided by joining the EU was beneficial While healthcare is an indicator of how a country s people are prospering joining the EU with its free movement of people created the situation where the Swedish needed to enhance their education to remain competitive After joining the EU Sweden experienced a 10 growth in primary school enrollment as well as a 64 growth in secondary school enrollment World Bank n d By joining the EU Sweden generated a need to better itself as a nation to be appealing to those who may immigrate to work there as well as so the Swedish would not be beaten out for jobs in their own country Also a study published in the Journal of Law and Economics 2013 found correlation between how educated a country is versus how accountable the government is The study found that individuals with higher education attainment are significantly more likely to lodge complaints against their government about general services police abuse and corruption leading to a higher quality of government Botero et al 2013 So by increasing the education of its citizens Sweden pushed itself to be more democratic and lead by the desires of the people Finally one of the most basic measures of whether a