The success of the Nordic countries rests on three pillars, the rule of law, free trade and social cohesion. Already in the thirteenth century, Icelandic chronicler Snorri Sturluson described the benefits of free trade. In 1765, Fenno-Swedish pastor Anders Chydenius presented a cogent defence of economic freedom. In the nineteenth century, the Nordic countries were governed by economic liberals who laid the foundations for their future prosperity. Danish pastor N. F. S. Grundtvig was an influential spokesman for economic freedom. So were Swedish economists Gustav Cassel and Eli F. Heckscher in the early twentieth century. Even if Social Democrats were often in power in the Nordic countries, they did not abandon free trade or the rule of law. The Nordic economies are still relatively free.