---
title: "Finland's economy and the second cold war | Ville Valkonen | Negotiator 208"
titleOriginal: "Suomen talous ja Toinen kylmä sota | Ville Valkonen | Neuvottelija 208"
episodeNumber: "208"
guest: "Ville Valkonen"
datePublished: 2023-08-22
duration: "54:35"
youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg"
originalLanguage: "fi"
topics: ["finnish_economy_policy","geopolitics"]
subtitleMethod: "none"
provenance: "Owner page assembled from YouTube metadata, the neuvottelija.fi episode record and the publisher's own chapter marks, translated one for one; their spacing is irregular and matches the recording. No transcript is published here — the channel has no English caption track for this episode and the Finnish one is YouTube's automatic track. The guest is a governing-party MP defending a government programme he helped pass and no opposing voice is present, which the long-form write-up in the Neuvottelija AI editions states."
fiCanonical: "https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/448-suomen-talous-ja-toinen-kylma-sota-ville-valkonen-neuvotteli"
canonical: https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep208-suomen-talous-ja-toinen-kylma-sota-ville-valkonen/
---
# Finland's economy and the second cold war | Ville Valkonen | Negotiator 208

English subtitles are not available on this page. This is an episode summary, not a curated transcript.

## Chapters

- [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=0s) Ville Valkonen, on the channel for the third time
- [00:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=35s) The public wanted a shift to the right, and the government delivers on labour law
- [02:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=130s) Changes in the property market
- [02:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=179s) The government's housing policy is market-led
- [05:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=301s) Municipal minimum property taxes as part of balancing the budget
- [06:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=399s) Is this a frightening moment to own or invest in housing
- [07:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=455s) Testing the claim that housing benefit does not raise rents
- [08:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=505s) Housing investment is still relatively low risk: leverage and tenants
- [11:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=691s) Cutting bureaucratic clutter: liberalising zoning and landowners' rights
- [13:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=834s) The big picture: Finns have lived beyond their means, with 152 billion in debt
- [16:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=995s) Finland's 43.2 per cent tax rate, and the improvement in the programme
- [19:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=1145s) Changes to the labour market, social security and structures
- [21:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=1315s) Entrepreneurs' concerns, and whether YEL funding can still be fixed
- [24:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=1475s) Ownership steering becomes more market-based, and the Uniper mistake
- [26:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=1566s) Improving growth and employment: an illegal strike is not a human right
- [27:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=1654s) Balancing public finances: ending the debt rally with growth and savings
- [29:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=1741s) Tax policy supports work and families with children
- [31:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=1905s) Why Finland has to make big structural changes now: ageing and demographics
- [33:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=2005s) Immigration policy, and Finns' opportunities to work
- [37:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=2229s) Finland's low wealth against the other Nordics: will inheritance tax become a capital gains tax
- [39:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=2385s) Two-way debate on X, and the Laffer curve
- [43:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=2588s) Alexander Stubb would be a good president amid change
- [46:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=2761s) Would an episode on Stubb's nominee register reform be a good idea
- [48:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=2936s) The world has entered a second cold war: authoritarian states want to change the order
- [52:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=3164s) Finland's role, and the demand for China analysis
- [54:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg&t=3250s) Inner Circle: Namibia, taekwondo and Mensa

## Summary

National Coalition MP Ville Valkonen joins Sami Miettinen two months into Petteri Orpo's government. The episode works through the programme's economic section in order: housing, property tax, the labour market, social security, taxation, and where the six billion euro adjustment is supposed to come from. The most interesting single figure is inheritance tax — some 800 million a year out of a tax take above 110 billion — and the question built around it of what changing the tax type would actually cost. It closes on the shift to a second cold war and Finland's position in it.

## The number that reframes the argument

Inheritance tax raises roughly 800 million euros a year against a total tax take above
110 billion. Once that is on the table the argument stops being about revenue and becomes
one about behaviour — lock-in on business succession, and what changing the type of tax
rather than the rate would cost.

## The programme, taken in order

Housing, property tax, the labour market, social security, taxation, and the six billion
adjustment. The useful thing is the sequence: the guest is specific about which part is
meant to come from growth and which from cuts, which is more than the public argument
usually offers.


## Watch

The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: [Suomen talous ja Toinen kylmä sota | Ville Valkonen | Neuvottelija 208](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Dr2vna8Dg).
A Finnish edition of this episode is published at [www.neuvottelija.fi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/fi/episodes/448-suomen-talous-ja-toinen-kylma-sota-ville-valkonen-neuvotteli).

## In depth

The Neuvottelija AI editions carry a long-form write-up of this episode:
[English](https://www.neuvottelija.com/ai/ep208-suomen-talous-ja-toinen-kylma-sota-ville-valkonen/) · [suomeksi](https://www.neuvottelija.fi/economy/ep208-suomen-talous-ja-toinen-kylma-sota-ville-valkonen/).

## Explore the ideas in depth

- [Negotiation Strategy, Leverage and Power: Reading the Counterparty You Actually Have](https://www.neuvottelija.com/guides/negotiation-strategy-leverage-and-power/): A negotiation guide from the co-author of Neuvotteluvalta — the sources of leverage, BATNA and anchoring in practice, using information asymmetry, breaking deadlocks, and what to do when the counterparty negotiates on power rather than consensus. Grounded in Neuvottelija conversations and two decades of negotiation writing.

---

Cite as: Sami Miettinen, Neuvottelija — Finland's economy and the second cold war | Ville Valkonen | Negotiator 208, https://www.neuvottelija.com/podcast/episodes/ep208-suomen-talous-ja-toinen-kylma-sota-ville-valkonen/, 2023-08-22. For quotes include episode 208 and timestamp.