2023-07-24 11:00:01
iceland mercy to tax reductions and legal certainty, today it is an advanced market economy, with a developed, technologically cutting-edge society and one of the largest financial centers in the world.
Certainly a country is not defined solely by its territory and natural resources. It is rather the result of the interaction between them and the society that inhabits it, over the years. For this reason, it is illuminating to take a historical look at certain nations that, indifferent to all odds, achieved lofty goals. There is a country as atypical as it is remarkable that, using coherence, deliberately sought a destination, it did not find it by accident.
This is Iceland, located near the North Pole, northwest of Europe. It covers the main island and other smaller ones, with a sparse population of just over 366,000 inhabitants. A rugged territory, dotted with glaciers, deserts and active volcanoes, challenges untamed with a deaf roar from its bowels. Precisely the famous Jules Verne, in his “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, makes the protagonists begin their captivating journey from the depths of an inactive volcano in Iceland. It does not represent a secondary fact that it is located outside the busy maritime routes, both commercial and tourist.
some history
Only in the year 874 did a Norwegian settler inhabit it, nobody had done it before, and since then it has been receiving a few immigrants, predominantly North Europeans.
From 1262 to 1944 it was part of the kingdom of Norway and later of Denmark, from whom it finally became independent. But its economy was rudimentary, basically fishing and subsistence. The resignation to a petty destiny was debated with the determination to build another reality, worthy of a spirit that they felt handcuffed.
Throughout the 20th century, until the late 1980s, the Icelandic economy was heavily socialized, with a strong state presence in every aspect of reality, and a private sector suffocated by bureaucracies, regulations, and taxes. Although they subsisted, any system that withers the energy and the will of a society darkens all perspectives.
This exhausted reality constituted the opportunity for a new political focus at the beginning of the ’90s, the Independence Party, of a liberal nature, which once in power launched a comprehensive transformation. It was a constant process in which, with an almost vegetal parsimony, it gave rise to the fruits of the new order being manifested and articulated.
country development
Already by 2007, the march of the Icelandic economy had transfigured every order of activity. They managed to overcome, by far, that condition of a small and marginal fishing nation. Thanks to tax reductions and legal certainty, today it is an advanced market economy, with a developed, technologically cutting-edge society and one of the largest financial centers in the world. First-rate companies find in Iceland everything they need to establish themselves. Consistency and constancy in converging facts made Iceland a rich nation. In 2009 it was classified by the UN as the third most developed country on the planet. It is opportune to emphasize that it was not until 1944 that they obtained their independence and only after the 1990s did they manage to get out of statism.
A singular aspect perhaps reveals better than anything the propensity reached by the Icelanders to turn even the apparently adverse in their favor. Its close location to the North Pole should make any human habitation impossible; a logical average would be tens of degrees below zero. However, the Gulf Stream reaches its shores raising the temperature of the surrounding waters, tempering the climate. However, this would not be enough to make human life and activity possible. It is that they have managed to take advantage of geothermal energy, provided by active volcanoes (about 200). They also have about 600 geysers, inexhaustible. It is these hot springs that release a column of hot water into the atmosphere. It is used directly to heat homes and other buildings. They also use it to power steam plants that generate electricity. In 1940, 85% of the energy in Iceland came from coal, today that same percentage comes from geothermal origin. In other words, this aspect was also part of the conversion process towards a rational reality. They made the intimidating volcanoes unconditional benefactors.
A safe and trustworthy country
Iceland is disconcerting with other peculiarities, such as having 24 hours of light in summer and only 3 or 4 in winter, due to its location. On the other hand, the success of the country is very likely correlated with decisive indicators. It is one of the safest places in the world with respect to all kinds of crimes. It has a high-quality literacy of around 99.9%, the majority speak 3 languages, and it is the country with the highest consumption of books per capita. An unquestionable connection between cultivation of understanding and success. In Iceland, the surreal northern lights amaze while suggesting that the most magnificent world is the one discovered when you open your eyes. They managed to leave behind the inexhaustible rhetorical pirouettes that always try to hijack glances to only cloud them.
By Marcelo Medawar
Degreein communication Sciences
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