SWEDEN

What natural resources does this nation have?

There is alot of mining in Sweden, mostly copper and iron. It is the largest producer of iron ore in the European Union. There has also been alot of lead, zinc, silver, gold, sulfur, zinc and lead. There are major deposits of iron ore in Lapland and some are used to make iron and steel to be exported.
Forests are a big resource as they cover 75% of the country.They also produce timber, pulp and paper which make up 18% of their total exports. Other timber realated products make up 12% of the total exports.
Other resources Sweden has is grass/hay, wheat, Barley and Oats.

What sectors of the economy are the biggest employers?
Sweden is highly developed country. The economy is 2% agricilture, 28% industry and 70% services. Services are the main area of growth. The Service industries, such as education, health care and trade are the main employers in this country. The reasons for this that 90% of the industriea re privately owned, goverment ownership is restricted to mines, public transport and energy.

How are economic decisions made? Who makes them?
A prime minister is nominated, the prime minister then appoints members of a cabinet, the cabinet then is responsible for all the goverment and economic decisons.

What is the most important industry in this nation? Is it labour or capital intensive?
The most important industry in Sweden is the mining industry. This industry is capital intensive because they use alot of big machinary and don't need many people to opperate it.

Does this nation use advanced technology in it's economy?
Sweden does use alot of advanced technology as it is a highly developed country. They use computers to process steel.

What is one of the major economic problems faced by this nation?
The goverment has a high debt of 41.9% of GDP. The goverment is trying to solve this by privatising some state owned companies. The income from these sales will be used to reduce their debt so it isn't a problem for the country in future generations.

How is this nation similar or different to Australia?
Australia and Sweden are similar because they both use advanced technology(eg.mining). They are both highly developed countries and are both mainly capital-intensive countries. Both countires extract alot of minerals out of the ground. They both have low unemployment.


My References:
Books:

Carlson, B. (1999), Country Fact Files: Sweden, Macdonald Young Books, East Sussex

Schyack-Nielsen, L. (2006), Countries of the World: Sweden, Evans Brothers Limited,London

Wagner, M. (2001), Countries of the World: Sweden, Times Media

Barber, N. (2007), World in Focus: Sweden, Wayland, London

Websites:

"Wikipedia", [2008], http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Sweden#Unemployment

"Wikipedia", [2008], http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Australia