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What We Can Learn from the Nordic Model

Considered role models for governance, equality, and social and economic policy, the Nordic countries rank near the top of every quality of living standard survey worldwide. The state welfare system, access to quality education and wage equality characterise the Nordic model and contribute to the countries’ continued growth and prosperity. But they also face challenges due to ageing populations, increasing inequality and digitalisation. Roberto Iacono provides an overview of the Nordic model and looks at future challenges. Elise S. Brezis examines elitism in higher education and its impact on inequality. Mark T. Nance and Jack Daly use the closing of the Saab Automobile AB as a case study to examine structural change and crisis management in Sweden. Jonathan Perraton defines social corporatism and looks at Nordic countries low levels of unemployment and inequality. And Johannes Tiemer highlights the distinguishing features of the Nordic model and offers ways to emulate their success.

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Figure of the Month

The Nordic Model of Economic Development and Welfare

Wage dispersion and combined welfare generosity

This figure from Robert Iacono’s  article The Nordic Model of Economic Development and Welfare: Recent Developments and Future Prospects from our current issue shows that the high welfare spendings in the nordic countries correlate with a low wage dispersion.

 

Letter from America

Trump: Reckless Free Trader or Genuine Protectionist?

The question that remains unanswered, writes Edward Alden in this issue's Letter from America, is whether Trump’s tariff strategy is a tactical one, intended to wring concessions from trading partners, or whether it represents a genuine abandonment of the U.S. commitment to free trade that dates back to the mid-1930s. The answer, the author says, will determine whether the Trump tariffs prove to be a minor skirmish, or trigger a major trade war that will rip apart the fabric of global trading rules.

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Euro

The Unifying Role of the Single Currency

Perhaps the single most tangible symbol of the European Union is its single currency, the euro, writes László Andor. Within the European Economic and Monetary Union, it was seen as a tool to ensure that European integration would be truly irreversible. As we have seen since the recent financial crisis, this is not always the case. Can the euro uphold its unifying mission or are the odds stacked against it?

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Job Opening

We Are Hiring!

Intereconomics is hiring a new Hamburg-based editor! Application deadline is August 23.

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Quote of the Month

The Nordic Model and Structural Change

“The case of Saab and Trollhättan shows one way that societies can harness the productive side of creative destruction while mitigating the harm it causes.”

Mark T. Nance and Jack Daly from "The Nordic Model and Structural Change: Lessons from the Collapse of Saab Automobile AB"

Annual Intereconomics / CEPS Conference

Economic Convergence or Divergence in the EU?

Brussels · 9 October 2018 · 9:30 am - 5:00 pm

The 8th annual Intereconomics / CEPS conference will examine the process of EU economic convergence in its various forms and consider its driving factors.

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The Nordic Model

Elitism in Higher Education and Inequality: Why Are the Nordic Countries So Special?

Do high levels of ‘elitism’ in higher education mean higher levels of inequality? Elise S. Brezis finds that elite universities have higher budgets, better scholars and a better student Network, resulting in higher productivity in the more competitive tradable sector´ and overall higher levels of inequality. Brezis considers the Nordic model, which displays lower elitism in higher education and correspondingly lower levels of inequality than most of the other OECD countries.

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Editor's Choice

A New Transatlantic Trade War?

This Forum's title and its assertion that "tension is mounting between the EU and the US... giving rise to fears of a full-blown transatlantic trade war and a new wave of global protectionism" could be ripped straight from today's headlines. It actually appeared in 2002. Wolfgang Ischinger's article "We Have Little to Gain from Trade Disputes, but Very Much to Lose" remains as relevant today as it was then.

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