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The Good Society

A Comparative Study of Denmark and Switzerland

  • Book
  • © 2014

Overview

Authors:
  1. Henrik Christoffersen

    1. CEPOS Center for Political Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark

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  2. Michelle Beyeler

    1. Department of Political Science, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

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  3. Reiner Eichenberger

    1. Department of Economics, Center for Public Finance, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

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  4. Peter Nannestad

    1. Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

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  5. Martin Paldam

    1. Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

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  • Providing empirical answers on how to achieve a good society
  • Highly relevant comparative study in political economy and welfare studies
  • Bringing together work from economists and political scientists ?
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
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  2. Two Good Societies: Switzerland and Denmark

    • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
    Pages 1-9

  3. The Quality of Life in Two Different Good Societies: Denmark and Switzerland

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11
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    2. Two Wealthy Economies and Their Development

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 13-29

    3. Are the Standards of Living Similar or Dissimilar? An Extended Comparison

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 31-63

    4. Happiness in Denmark and Switzerland

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 65-114

  4. Two Models of Good Societies

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 115-115
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    2. Two Stylized Models

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 117-137

    3. Political Institutions and Politics

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 139-165

    4. Civil Society: Associational Involvement, Norms and Values

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 167-187

    5. Two Variants of the Welfare State

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 189-216

    6. Immigration

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 217-249

  5. Challenges for the Two Good Societies

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 251-251
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    2. The Future of the Danish Welfare State

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 253-282

    3. The Future of Switzerland

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 283-311

    4. The Good Society: Conclusion

      • Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam
      Pages 313-319

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 321-327
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Keywords

About this book

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.

Authors and Affiliations

  • CEPOS Center for Political Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Henrik Christoffersen

  • Department of Political Science, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Michelle Beyeler

  • Department of Economics, Center for Public Finance, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Reiner Eichenberger

  • Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Peter Nannestad

  • Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Martin Paldam

About the authors

Henrik Christoffersen is an associate external Professor in economics at the University of Copenhagen and Director of research at the Copenhagen Center for Political Studies, Cepos.

Michelle Beyeler is a senior researcher and lecturer at the Political Science Department of the Universities of Bern and Zurich. She is a political scientist and her research covers various topics such as comparative welfare state analysis, gender and politics, comparative political economy, and political protest.

Reiner Eichenberger is Professor at the University of Fribourg for Public Finance and Economic Policy since 1998. He got his doctorate (1991) and habilitation (1998) at the University of Zurich. He specializes in Political Economy and Institutional Innovations, and is a co-editor of Kyklos. He published more than 100 academic articles and a large number of  contributions in outlets for the general public.

Peter Nannestad is Professor of Public Policy at the Department of Political Science at Aarhaus University since 1991.

Martin Paldam is Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics and Business at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Good Society

  • Book Subtitle: A Comparative Study of Denmark and Switzerland

  • Authors: Henrik Christoffersen, Michelle Beyeler, Reiner Eichenberger, Peter Nannestad, Martin Paldam

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37238-4

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Business and Economics, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-642-37237-7Published: 11 December 2013

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-662-51293-7Published: 03 September 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-37238-4Published: 26 November 2013

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 327

  • Number of Illustrations: 67 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Public Economics, International Political Economy, Quality of Life Research

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