Anders Tegnell is either a hero or villain, depending on whether you think Sweden’s approach to Covid-19 has saved the economy and respected individual freedom or whether you think it has needlessly cost lives. But is the country’s refusal to impose a lockdown a result of his wisdom and judgement – or was the Swedish government tied down by its constitution?

The latter is the conclusion of Lars Jonung, an economist at Lund University, who has published a paper explaining why he thinks that Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and his government did not have the option of following other European countries...