Maybe it’s just because I live in Minnesota, a state where the differences between immigrants from Sweden, Norway, and Finland are still apparent in the names of towns and the surnames of people. But when I run into people who would prefer that the US distribution of income be more equal, they often point to…
Predistribution, Not Redistribution, in the Nordic Countries
Predistribution, Not Redistribution, in the Nordic Countries
15 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economics of education, fiscal policy, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden
Labor supply is elastic!
19 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, labour economics, labour supply Tags: Denmark, taxation and labour supply
Even in Denmark: We investigate long-run earnings responses to taxes in the presence of dynamic returns to effort. First, we develop a theoretical model of earnings determination with dynamic returns to effort. In this model, earnings responses are delayed and mediated by job switches. Second, using administrative data from Denmark, we verify our model’s predictions […]
Labor supply is elastic!
Scandinavian Governments Are Greedy, not Socialist
27 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Denmark, Norway, social insurance, Sweden, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
Scandinavian nations are not socialist, at least if we’re using the technical definition (government ownership, central planning, and price controls). But those countries do have big welfare states. And that means stifling tax burdens. And those harsh taxes don’t just apply to rich taxpayers. Lower-income and middle-class people also get pillaged. I’ve already explained that punitive value-added […]
Scandinavian Governments Are Greedy, not Socialist
Danish Fart Tax No Laughing Matter
19 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: Denmark
Paul Schwennesen explains the nefarious intent behind this latest government hostile takeover in his Daily Economy article. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. Cow farts are a distraction, and the joke’s on us. The Danish tax is a significant step toward state ownership of the means of production. Denmark, according to The New […]
Danish Fart Tax No Laughing Matter
The Danish Mortgage System Avoids Lock-In
20 Jun 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, financial economics, law and economics, property rights, urban economics Tags: Denmark
Tyler and I have been promoting the Danish mortgage system for years. Recall that in the Danish system each mortgage is backed by a matching bond. As a consequence, mortgage holders have two ways to pay a mortgage: 1) hold the mortgage and pay the monthly payments or 2) buy the matching bond and, in […]
The Danish Mortgage System Avoids Lock-In
Why did Sweden and Norway Break Up?
16 Nov 2021 Leave a comment
in economic history, International law, war and peace Tags: Denmark, Norway, Sweden
James Heckman: Inequality in Denmark vs USA
29 Sep 2021 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality Tags: Denmark
@Bryan_Caplan at his absolute best
31 Jul 2019 Leave a comment
in liberalism, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: Denmark, Sweden, The fatal conceit
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Why are French jobs so miserable and dangerous?
13 Mar 2017 Leave a comment
in labour economics Tags: British economy, compensating differentials, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy
Why no progress on the gender wage gap in @SenSanders’ favourite countries
02 Feb 2017 Leave a comment
College and post-graduate wage premium in the English speaking countries, France, S. Korea, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden
31 Jul 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, labour economics, occupational choice Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, College premium, Denmark, education premium, Finland, France, graduate premium, Ireland, Korea, Norway, post-graduate premium, Sweden
Source: Education at a Glance 2015, section 6.
Waiting for the permits to come in: business start-up fees and lost output waiting in Europe and North America
09 May 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, law and economics Tags: barriers to entry, Belgium, British economy, Canada, cost of doing business, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain
Expediting the processing of permits can actually make quite a difference to firm start-up costs even in countries with few barriers to starting up a business.
Source: Markus Poschke (2011) Entry regulation: Still costly | VOX, CEPR’s Policy Portal.
Note: The value of time is set to a business day’s output per day of waiting time at 22 business days per month.
Actual and synthetic real per capita GDP and real per worker GDP in the 1973 EU enlargement
27 Apr 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, international economics Tags: British economy, Common market, customs unions, Denmark, EU membership, European Union, Ireland
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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