Generally, in Europe, "Liberal" is understood economically as "economically liberal" and thereby right-wing because its pro-privatization. As /u/G_Comstock points out, this is closer to the actual classical definition of Liberalism than the paradoxical American understanding of the term.

Thus Scandinavia is not "significantly more [...]economically liberal than the rest of Europe" Scandinavia is considerably more economically left-wing than the rest of Europe (Left wing as in "social democratic or socialist"). This may seem like petty semantics but i think its important that we do not rob words of their actual content.

hi! here's an earlier related post to get you started

How did the Scandinavian welfare state come into being?

I'm not qualified to answer your question but one small point on its articulation. In many countries, certainly the United Lingdom, there is a significant difference between liberal in a social sense (as in progressive) and liberal in an economic sense (meaning something akin to laissez faire.) see classical libralism For example this classification has led the right wing party in Australia to be called 'the liberal party'

While Scandinavia is often seen as a striking example of the former it is rarely held up as a paradigm of the later.

Just a hopefully helpful FYI :)