Johan Norberg (; born 1973) is a Swedish author and historian of ideas, devoted to promoting

economic globalization Economic globalization is one of the three main dimensions of globalization commonly found in academic literature, with the two others being political globalization and cultural globalization, as well as the general term of globalization. Econ ...

and what he describes as

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, eco ...

positions. He is the author of '' In Defense of Global Capitalism'' (2001), '' Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future'' (2016), and '' The Capitalist Manifesto: Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World'' (2023). Since 15 March 2007, he has been a senior fellow at the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

, and since January 2017 an executive editor at Free To Choose Media, where he regularly produces documentaries for US public television.

Early life and education

Johan Norberg was born in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, the son of former Swedish National Archivist Erik Norberg and his wife Birgitta. He grew up in the suburb of Hässelby in western Stockholm. In his youth, Norberg was active as an "anti-industrial

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

" during high school, but later abandoned those views and became a

. According to the biography given on his personal website, Norberg was disillusioned with the anarchist view of liberty when he discovered the

collectivist In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and groups. Characteristics of social organization can include qualities such as sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, struct ...

themes in the major anarchist works and was unable to sympathize with the pre-industrial society which its anarcho-primitivism promoted. This realization made him embrace classical liberalism, which he felt "took freedom seriously." He studied at

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

from 1992 to 1999 and earned an M.A. with a major in the

history of ideas Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual hist ...

. His other subjects included

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. During his time at Stockholm University, he was active in the libertarian network Frihetsfronten ("the Liberty Front") and was the editor of its journal '' Nyliberalen'' ("The Neoliberal"/"The Libertarian") from 1993 to 1997.

Career

In 1997, Norberg was contacted by the Swedish liberal think tank Timbro, who invited him to write a book about the Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg. The book, ''Motståndsmannen Vilhelm Moberg'', sold well and sparked much debate which allowed him to write another book, on the history of Swedish liberalism. This book, ''Den svenska liberalismens historia'', also became a success and in 1999 Norberg joined the permanent staff of Timbro. From 1999 to 2002 he was assistant editor-in-chief of the webzine Smedjan.com. In 1999 he started the website Frihandel.nu to put forward the case for

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

and open economies. Having participated in a number of debates against the Swedish

anti-globalization The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist ...

movement, in May 2001 he released the book '' In Defense of Global Capitalism'' () where he assembles his arguments for

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

and free trade. In 2002 the book was selected for the Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and in 2003 Norberg was awarded the gold medal of the German Hayek Stiftung (an award shared with former British Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

and the German economist Otmar Issing). The British

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

also invited him to present the

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

'' Globalisation is Good'' (released in 2003), which is based on his book. From 2002 to 2005, Norberg was head of political ideas at Timbro. From 2006 to 2007 he was a Senior Fellow with the

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

-based think tank Centre for the New Europe. Since 15 March 2007, he has been a Senior Fellow at the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

–based

. He is also a member of the international

Mont Pelerin Society The Mont Pelerin Society (MPS), founded in 1947, is an international academic society of Economist, economists, Political philosophy, political philosophers, and other Intelligentsia, intellectuals who share a classical liberal outlook. It is hea ...

. In January 2017 Norberg became Executive Editor of Free To Choose Media. In September 2020 he published the book ''Open: The Story of Human Progress'', described by

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

as "clear, colourful and convincing".

Awards and honours

* Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, for the book ''In Defense of Global Capitalism'' (2002). * Prize of the Sture Lindmark Foundation for Public Debate, for opinion formation for free trade (May 2002). * Gold medal of the Friedrich-August-von-Hayek-Stiftung, shared with former British Prime Minister

and ECB Chief Economist Otmar Issing (2003). * Voted Sweden's best blogger by the readers of the magazine '' Internetworld'' (2005). * Curt Nicolin Memorial Award from the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (2006). * James Joyce Award from the Literary and Historical Society of

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

(2007) * Luminary Award from the Free Market Foundation (2016) * Julian L. Simon Memorial Award from the

Competitive Enterprise Institute The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a non-profit libertarian think tank founded by the political writer Fred L. Smith Jr. on March 9, 1984, in Washington, D.C., to advance principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individ ...

(2019)

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Norberg, Johan (2020). '' Open: The Story of Human Progress''. Atlantic Books. . * Norberg, Johan (2023). '' The Capitalist Manifesto: Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World.'' Atlantic Books.

References

External links