TY - BOOK
T1 - The Good Society
T2 - A Comparative Study of Denmark and Switzerland
AU - Christoffersen, Henrik
AU - Beyeler, Michelle
AU - Eichenberger, Reiner
AU - Nannestad, Peter
AU - Paldam, Martin
N1 - All authors are editors, MP is author to chpt 1, 2, 5, 9 and10
Peter Nannestad is coauthor to Chpt 1,5, 9 an 10 (and to Chpt 6 and 7
Henrik Christoffersen is co-author to chpt 1 and 12
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Denmark and Switzerland are small and successful countries with exceptionally content populations. However, they have very different political institutions and economic models. They have followed the general tendency in the West toward economic convergence, but both countries have managed to stay on top. They both have a strong liberal tradition, but otherwise their economic strategies are a welfare state model for Denmark and a safe haven model for Switzerland. The Danish welfare state is tax-based, while the expenditures for social welfare are insurance-based in Switzerland. The political institutions are a multiparty unicameral system in Denmark, and a permanent coalition system with many referenda and strong local government in Switzerland. Both approaches have managed to ensure smoothly working political power-sharing and economic systems that allocate resources in a fairly efficient way. To date, they have also managed to adapt the economies to changes in the external environment with a combination of stability and flexibility.
AB - Denmark and Switzerland are small and successful countries with exceptionally content populations. However, they have very different political institutions and economic models. They have followed the general tendency in the West toward economic convergence, but both countries have managed to stay on top. They both have a strong liberal tradition, but otherwise their economic strategies are a welfare state model for Denmark and a safe haven model for Switzerland. The Danish welfare state is tax-based, while the expenditures for social welfare are insurance-based in Switzerland. The political institutions are a multiparty unicameral system in Denmark, and a permanent coalition system with many referenda and strong local government in Switzerland. Both approaches have managed to ensure smoothly working political power-sharing and economic systems that allocate resources in a fairly efficient way. To date, they have also managed to adapt the economies to changes in the external environment with a combination of stability and flexibility.
KW - Comparative economics
KW - Happiness studies
KW - Institutional equivalence
KW - Public choice
KW - Social Welfare
M3 - Book
SN - 978-3-642-37237-7
BT - The Good Society
PB - Springer
CY - Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht and London
ER -