If one spends some time reading various international rankings, they'll quickly notice that Nordic countries dominate pretty much everything out there - business friendliness, tech preparedness, quality of life, democracy, government transparency, happiness etc.<p>And its probably a bit more complicated than Adam Smith's little recommendation. Far more than any other countries, they seem to have a dedication to finding things that work - regardless if they are "socialist" (ie, their relatively high personal taxes and great social programs) or "capitalist" (ie, the business friendliness cited by the article).