The researchers suggest the migration flows, which were small relative to the native population of America but equivalent to about 25 per cent of the total population of Scandinavia, changed the character of Norwegian and Swedish society by removing the most ambitious and independently-minded people.
In other words, Scandinavian social democracy might not be possible without America’s historic willingness to absorb those who refused to follow the “Law of Jante”.
So the ambitious and the individualistic people left Scandinavia and came to America. The ones left behind changed their countries into social welfare states. That means the recent backlash against immigrants will nudge US towards social democracy. Interesting hypothesis.