Reform Capacity and Macroeconomic Performance in the Nordic Countries

by Andersen, Torben M.; Bergman, Michael; Jensen, Svend E. Hougaard

• ISBN13: 9780198717102
• ISBN10: 0198717105
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-04-12
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author Biography

Torben M. Andersen, Professor, University of Aarhus,Michael Bergman, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen,Svend E. Hougaard Jensen, Professor, Copenhagen Business School

Torben M. Andersen is Professor at the School of Economics and Management. He received his PhD from CORE, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, 1986, and holds a Lic. Oecon (1984) from University of Aarhus, and a MSc, from London School of Economics 1981. His primary research and teaching interests are in the economics of the welfare state, labour economics, and fiscal policy. He is affiliated to a number of research institutions including CEPR (London), CESifo (Munich), IZA (Bonn), and SNS (Stockholm).


Michael Bergman is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He previously served as a Member of the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council (2007-2012). Dr. Bergman's fields of research are macroeconomics and international finance. He has published several articles on business cycles, fiscal policy and exchange rates as well as the European Monetary Union.


Svend E. Hougaard Jensen currently works as a Professor of Economics at Copenhagen Business School. On leave from academia, he has served as head of the Division of Economic Analysis within the Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs. His research has focused on topics such as macroeconomic effects of changing demographics, intergenerational (re)distribution, sustainability of public debt, monetary unification and fiscal policy, structural reforms and macroeconomic performance. He has published numerous articles in learned journals and books, and he is the author/editor of several books.

Table of Contents

1. Macroeconomic Perspectives on the Nordic Economies: Past, Present, and Future, Torben M. Andersen, Michael Bergman, and Svend E. Hougaard Jensen
2. Collective Risk Sharing: The Social Safety Net and Employment, Torben M. Andersen
Commentary on Chapter 2: Social Trust and the Efficiency-Equity Trade-Off, Andreas Bergh
3. Missing the Link? On the Political Economy of Nordic Egalitarianism, Erling Barth and Karl Ove Moene
Commentary on Chapter 3, Niels Blomgren-Hansen
4. Labour Market Policies in Denmark: A Story of Structural Reforms and Evidence Based Policy, Michael Svarer
Commentary on Chapter 4, Michael Burda
5. What Scope for Monetary Policy? Experiences from the Nordic Countries after the Financial Crisis, Anders Moller Christensen and Niels Lynggard Hansen
Commentary on Chapter 5, Jesper Rangvid
6. Monetary Policy and Exchange Rate Stabilization in Norway and Sweden, Hilde C. Bjornland and Junior Maih
Commentary on Chapter 6, Roberto M. Billi
7. House Prices in Denmark and Sweden, Michael Bergman, Bjorn Tangaa Sillemann, Peter Birch Sorensen
Commentary on Chapter 7, Niels Arne Dam
8. Reforming the Fiscal Framework: The Case of Sweden 1973-2013, Lars Jonung
Commentary on Chapter 8, Henrik Braconier
9. Shaping the Fiscal Policy Framework: Lessons from Fiscal Consolidations in Denmark and Sweden, Michael Bergman, Michael M. Hutchison , and Svend E. Hougaard Jensen
Commentary on Chapter 9, Steinar Holden
10. A Crisis Not Wasted: Institutional and Structural Reforms Behind Norway's Strong Macroeconomic Performance, Erling Steigum and Oystein Thogersen
Commentary on Chapter 10, Hans Tson Soderstrom
11. Finland and Sweden in Cross-Country Comparison: What are the Lessons?, Sixten Korkman and Antti Suvanto
Commentary on Chapter 11, Fredrik Anderson
12. Iceland: How Could This Happen?, Thorvaldur Gylfason
Commentary on Chapter 12, Soren Bo Nielsen
13. Challenges to the Nordic Model, Seppo Honkapohja