ALPHA. Demokratiskolan.se is a PROTOTYPE · Content review in progress
Demokratiskolan
The The 0.1% card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 23 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaDemocracy & power
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe general election
Democracy & power

The 0.1%

People & families with extreme wealth

A large part of Swedish business is controlled by a small number of owner families through foundations and investment companies, often with shares that carry extra voting power. That power is private and shows up in no election. The public sphere steers at the edges: company rules, taxes, competition and oversight, almost all of it at national level and more and more at EU level.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · land, plans & establishments · approx 5 %
  • State · company law, tax & oversight · approx 70 %
  • EU · competition & market rules · approx 25 %

Ownership power itself is private and stands outside the meter. The public power that frames it lies with the central government and the EU, and is decided in the general election and the European Parliament election.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe land & the plans
The regionOutside the area
Central governmentThe rules & the oversight · centre of gravity
Who decides?
No formal role over ownership, but the municipal council (kommunfullmäktige) and the building committee govern land and plans.
No formal role. The region mostly meets the large companies as a procurer and an employer in the county.
The Riksdag, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen), the Swedish Competition Authority (Konkurrensverket) and the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket).
What do they decide?
When family-owned companies want to build or establish themselves, the municipality's planning monopoly decides where and how.
No power over ownership, but regional development funds can influence where jobs end up.
The Companies Act, tax rules for foundations, oversight of the stock exchange and the review of large company acquisitions.
Where are decisions made?
In detailed development plans (detaljplan) and land allocations, official documents.
In the region's development strategy and procurements.
In the Riksdag and at the supervisory agencies. Annual reports and ownership data are public.
Who pays?
Nothing to the companies. Municipal tax: planning and infrastructure around establishments.
Regional tax: regional development, not owner support.
The central government budget: the oversight. The companies pay fees and tax.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election Respond to planning consultations, examine land allocations in the register.
Regional election Follow the region's procurements, the documents are public.
General election Vote on tax and company rules, tip off the Financial Supervisory Authority or the Competition Authority.
EUThe EU's competition rules review the largest company acquisitions and all state aid, and the rules of the internal market set the frame for ownership power. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case A major company acquisition is tested by society
  1. State

    The playing field is laid out

    The Companies Act allows shares with different voting power, which has let families control large companies with a smaller share of the capital. Foundations and investment companies make the control long-term.

    Point of influence

    The rules on ownership, foundations and tax are set by the Riksdag. The general election is the way to change them.

  2. State

    The deal is made public

    An investment company makes a bid for a competitor. The stock exchange rules and the Financial Supervisory Authority's oversight require the information to be made public so that all shareholders are treated equally.

  3. State

    The Competition Authority reviews it

    Large company concentrations must be notified to the Swedish Competition Authority (Konkurrensverket), which reviews whether the acquisition harms competition. The authority can approve, set conditions or oppose the deal.

    Point of influence

    Anyone can tip off the Competition Authority about distorted competition, even anonymously.

  4. EU

    Brussels takes the biggest ones

    If the companies are large enough in several EU countries, the deal is reviewed by the European Commission instead. The decisions apply directly in Sweden.

  5. State

    The public sphere scrutinises

    Annual reports, ownership lists and verdicts are public, and financial journalism lives on them. Your pension fund is often a part-owner and votes at the shareholders' meetings.

    Point of influence

    As a saver you have power: funds report their holdings and how they vote, and you can switch fund.

  6. Your everyday life

    The deal lands in your shopping cart

    Prices, range and jobs are affected by who owns what. Ownership power is legal and often long-term, but it does well to be seen.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. Which companies affect your everyday life most, and do you know who owns them?

  2. What is the difference between power you voted in and power that was inherited or bought?

  3. What does a country gain and lose by having ownership concentrated among a few long-term owners?

  4. How much insight into private ownership is reasonable, and where does the private begin?

  5. What power do you have yourself as a customer, a saver and an employee, and do you use it?

Glossary

Investmentbolag
A company whose business is to own and steer other companies, often a hub in an ownership sphere.
Stiftelse
An ownership form without owners: the capital is governed by statutes and a board, which makes the control hard to buy up.
A- och B-aktier
Shares in the same company with different voting power: whoever holds the high-voting shares can steer with less capital.
Företagskoncentration
When companies merge or are acquired, which above certain sizes must be reviewed by a competition authority.
Bolagsstämma
The shareholders' highest decision-making meeting, where your funds also vote.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.