ANDREAS CERVENKA is one of Sweden’s most acclaimed and award-winning business writers. His most recent book, GREEDY SWEDEN, tells the story of how socialist Sweden became a haven for the super-rich. An instant bestseller, it became one of the most talked about books in 2022 and was nominated for Sweden’s premier literary prize, the August Prize.

Andreas has published three books which all have been widely praised by critics. His first, WHAT IS MONEY?, was converted into a play which debuted at Sweden’s national theatre, Dramaten, in 2015 to widespread critical praise.

His next book, THE BUBBLE, investigating the global housing bubble, was published by Albert Bonniers Förlag in November 2024.

Andreas has worked at several of Sweden’s largest publications such as Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter and Dagens Industri. He has won the Financial Journalist of The Year four times, the Guldspaden prize for best investigative reporting and the prestigious Grand Prize of Journalism (Sweden’s Pulitzer) three times, most recently in 2022 in the category Voice of the Year. Andreas currently works as an economics commentator at Aftonbladet, Scandinavia’s biggest newspaper.

In 2015 Andreas and colleague Torbjörn Isacson at Svenska Dagbladet uncovered misuse of private jets and perks at Swedish forest-company SCA. The revelations ultimately led to the downfall of several of the most powerful executives in Sweden in what has been described as the most significant power shift in Swedish business life since the Second World War.

Andreas Cervenka has been hailed for his unique ability to explain complex economic events to a wide audience. The august Swedish writer and poet Bodil Malmsten has called him “The Tomas Tranströmer of financial journalism”.

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

GREEDY SWEDEN

August-priset (August Prize) – Nominated to Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022

Stora Journalistpriset (Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism) – Winner of Voice of the Year 2022

Adlibris-priset (Adlibris Prize) – Nominated to Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022

OTHER SELECTED AWARDS

Stora Journalistpriset (Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism) – Winner of Scoop of the Year 2015

Schibsted Journalism Awards - Winner of Scoop of the Year (2015)

Guldspaden – Winner of the Prize for Investigative Reporting 2015)

Tidsskriftspriset – Winner of Financial Journalist of the Year 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Sjunde Ap-fondens Journalistpris (Swedish Pension Fund Prize of Journalism) – Winner 2011

Stora Journalistpriset (Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism) – Winner of Innovator of the Year 2001

Agent: Moa Alfvén & Erik Larsson

Published alBERT BONNIERS FÖRLAG, November 2024
Genre POPULAR ECONOMICS / BUSINESS & FINANCE
Pages 250

Rights sold
ALL RIGHTS AVAILABLE

OPTIONS
FINLAND – GUMMERUS

How the hunger for real estate broke the world

Michael Lewis meets Yanis Varoufakis in this new book by Andreas Cervenka, Sweden’s “reluctant radical”

Access to housing is one of the most important prerequisites for both economic growth and individual quality of life. Yet housing supply never seems to match demand, and every decade household debt rises to new record levels, just so we can have somewhere to live.

The profits, not least for those who lend the money, are enormous. But there are also risks, both for the individual and for society. How did this actually happen? How can one of our most basic needs, a roof over our heads, turn into a financial bomb belt on the body of society?

In THE BUBBLE, the educational and, frankly, terrifying sequel to the best-selling GREEDY SWEDEN, Andreas Cervenka examines in his unmistakable and entertaining way an economy that stands on increasingly brittle foundations

How the Welfare State Became a Paradise for the Super-Rich – Nominated for the August Prize 2022

Sweden has long been famous for being one of the world’s most socially equal countries. But this self-image, and the image Sweden has been extremely successful in projecting abroad, of a social democratic haven hasn’t been true for a long time.

The gap between the super-rich and the rest of the population has grown immensely, very fast. The proportion of the economy owned by the richest 0.1 percent is higher than in the USA, and Sweden has more dollar-billionaires than Japan and Brazil. Sweden is a country where the tax on labour is among the highest in the world, but where taxes on assets are considerably lower than in many other countries. It is a country that, in 2022, is suffering from an overheated housing market, stock market and crypto market – all at the same time. Where the hunt for easy money has become a social movement.

In 1996, there were 28 billionaires in Sweden. Today, there are 542. Together, they have become 30 times richer in 25 years. Meanwhile, the proportion of Swedish households with a low economic standard is the highest it’s ever been.

In his new book, Andreas Cervenka tells the story of Sweden’s unbelievable journey from a high-tax country to a billionaires’ paradise. In GREEDY SWEDEN, Andreas Cervenka, with his characteristic sense of humour, guides the reader towards an attempt at answering the question: What has happened to Sweden?