Ove Kaj Pedersen in Japanese business magazine

Professor from CBS talks about the Scandinavian model

Ove Kaj Pedersen, Professor and Head of the International Center for Business and Politics (CBP) has found his way into the Japanese business magazine Toyo Keizai. The magazine has decided to study the Scandinavian model for economy and welfare.

High competitiveness and social equality

Correspondent Richard Katz visited Denmark and Sweden in December to report on our so-called flexicurity model, a structure that allows businesses the flexibility to hire and fire employees, but which also ensures social security for employees in case of dismissal. The model has attained great success and world-wide recognition because it combines high competitiveness with widespread social equality.

Richard Katz also visited CBP to interview Ove Kaj Pedersen, who claims that the Scandinavian countries are economically successful because they have acquired an openness and ability to adapt. However, Ove Kaj Pedersen also emphasises that necessary modifications to the model during an economic crisis, for instance tax and social benefit adjustments, could be impaired if the same party governs for many years. This for instance happened to the Danish party Socialdemokratiet in the 1990s.