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Car­oline de la Porte

Professor

Subjects
Job market Welfare Gender Work-life balance EU Politics

Primary research areas

Work-life bal­ance
AGILE, fun­ded as a core group by the VELUX found­a­tion, is a multi-year pro­ject ana­lys­ing the gov­ern­ment policies, busi­ness prac­tices, and cit­izen per­spect­ives that shape work-life bal­ance in ad­vanced in­dus­tri­al eco­nom­ies. With re­cord-high em­ploy­ment rates and short­er work­ing weeks, we are wit­ness­ing a sig­ni­fic­ant shift in how work and per­son­al life in­ter­sect. AGILE col­lects ori­gin­al sur­vey data across coun­tries to ana­lyse cit­izen and work­er per­spect­ives, and, via vari­ous qual­it­at­ive data, delves into work-life bal­ance in dif­fer­ent sec­tors across 4 coun­tries. Fi­nally, it will de­vel­op a teach­ing case of rel­ev­ance for busi­ness school stu­dents.
EU So­cial Policy
This re­search, fun­ded by the Carls­berg Found­a­tion, fo­cuses on how the EU in­creas­ingly de­vel­ops policy at the in­ter­sec­tion of la­bour mar­kets and so­cial policy. It fo­cuses more spe­cific­ally on the EU’s work-life bal­ance dir­ect­ive, ex­amin­ing cit­izen per­spect­ives, as well as the polit­ics be­hind the im­ple­ment­a­tion across mem­ber states. It then ex­am­ines im­ple­ment­a­tion and how it re­shapes the polit­ics of par­ent­al leave. Fi­nally, it con­siders out­comes across mem­ber states.
Pub­lic Opin­ion meets In­sti­tu­tions
This re­search ex­am­ines how cit­izens view pub­lic policy op­tions and choices across vari­ous areas, fo­cused on grand so­ci­et­al chal­lenges in 11 coun­tries. This in­cludes demo­graph­ic aging, war, cli­mate change, di­git­al­iz­a­tion. Vari­ous au­thors are work­ing on pa­pers from this data, and a spe­cial is­sue on this top­ic is be­ing pre­pared for the journ­al Policy & So­ci­ety.

My re­search of­ten in­volves policy ana­lys­is, and there­fore, the find­ings are rel­ev­ant for stake­hold­ers, which can be em­ploy­er or­gan­isa­tions and trade uni­ons and policy-makers. I am par­tic­u­larly in­ter­ested in demo­graph­ic aging, and the types of solu­tions th

My research in European political economy covers the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) – including the fiscal dimension - as well as labour market and social policy. In recent years, my work has also focused on the Nordic welfare model, especially in work-life balance policy. I am PI on ‘AGILE work-life balance’ (2025 – 2029), funded by the Velux foundation. I have had leading roles in numerous international collaborations, including the EU social citizenship project (funded by EU-Horizon) focusing on fair working conditions, and Reimagining Norden in an Evolving World (ReNEW), focusing on gender equality and labour markets. I teach and supervise on a wide range of topics related to comparative politics, and public policy. Methodologically, I specialize in in-depth and comparative qualitative analyses as well as mixed methods. I am active on numerous international boards as member or chairperson. Currently, I am chair of the Danish selection committee for the college of Europe, and of the Danish welfare studies research network, Velnet.  


My research: 

provides stakeholders, inculding businesses, with insights about work-life balance oplicy and practice across countries  

Focuses on the role of parental leave for enabling work-life balance 

Focuses on citizens perspectives on work-life balance 

Examines European Union policy and politics in public policy 

Publications

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April 2025

A Green but Also Just Transition?

Variations in Social and Industrial Policy Responses to Industrial Decarbonisation in EU Member States

Ca­ro­li­ne de la Po­r­te, Professor

Elke Heins

Andrea Prontera

Dorota Szelewa
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2025

‘Guns Versus Butter’ in Public Opinion

The Politicization of the Warfare-welfare Trade-off

Stefano Sacchi

Gregorio Buzzelli

Ca­ro­li­ne de la Po­r­te, Professor

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March 2024

Actors, Costs and Values

The Implementation of the Work-Life Balance Directive

Ca­ro­li­ne de la Po­r­te, Professor

Go to publication

Recent research projects

AGILE work-life bal­ance

This multi-year pro­ject, fin­anced by the VELUX found­a­tion, fo­cuses on how work-life and leis­ure are pri­or­it­ized and com­bined in dif­fer­ent coun­tries. Firstly, it high­lights cit­izen per­spect­ives on work-life bal­ance (in­clud­ing leis­ure) in par­tic­u­lar what their de­mands and pref­er­ence are. Secondly, it ana­lyses the ex­tent to which EU reg­u­la­tion and policy fa­cil­it­ates work-life bal­ance policy in dif­fer­ent coun­tries. Thirdly, it ana­lyses how firms in dif­fer­ent sec­tors (and in dif­fer­ent coun­tries) en­able or hinder work-life bal­ance.
AGILE project homepage

The EU’s So­cial Para­dox

This mono­graph pro­ject – fun­ded by the Carls­berg Found­a­tion – fo­cuses on the chal­lenges, be­cause mem­ber states have most au­thor­ity in labor mar­ket and so­cial policy, and the achieve­ments at EU level. It also ex­am­ines the im­ple­ment­a­tion, as well as wheth­er the new EU so­cial rights lead to a level play­ing field in mem­ber states or to dif­fer­en­ti­ated and per­haps more in­equal­ity in so­cial rights.