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Thanks for asking, tomjen3! I'm generally curious about the role of culture vs specific mechanisms (laws, regulations, etc.) and how they intermingle. I'm sure

Thanks for asking, tomjen3! I'm generally curious about the role of culture vs specific mechanisms (laws, regulations, etc.) and how they intermingle. I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch, but these are the questions that immediately come to mind: How is Denmark able to limit corruption (relative to most countries)? How is Denmark able to pay its working class such a high wage (relative to countries like the US)? How are you able to institute regulations that are both effective but not overly burdensome? How is Denmark able to balance a strong social-safety while promoting a productive working class/discouraging freeloaders? What areas would you most like to see Denmark improve? Thank you again!

tomjen3 8y ago
>How is Denmark able to limit corruption (relative to most countries)? I really don't have a good answer to this one. I think it is a combination of relatively equal wages (so you would be limited in how much you can afford to pay in bribes and I don't have to take bribes to live) and very strong taboo. I mean it isn't perfect, there was a case that started about a year ago with a computer supply company called Atea that had arranged for 10% of payments to be diverted to a special account that the employees in charge of purchasing could then use for expensive trips. It also highlighted a lot of small favors that the company had done -- and it meant that people got (suspended) prison sentences and fines for such small things as getting an iPad on permanent "loan". >How is Denmark able to pay its working class such a high wage (relative to countries like the US)? That is mostly because they are in a position to demand it: we had relatively aggressive unions, but we also pay a very high "kontanthjælp" (directly translated: cash help) of about 1768 usd/month for a single person (on top of that comes rent assistance, though there is now a cap on the combined amount), much more if you a single parent (including completely paid for child care) -- that is less than it would be in the US, because we have a higher cost of living. Cash assistance is literally the lowest amount you can get, so effectively unless you pay more you are not going to be able to hire anybody (technically cash assistance requires that you are trying to get a job, in practice, you can learn to cheat the system). Note that this also means that many of the things that are done in the US are not done in Denmark: nobody packs bags for you at the supermarket, greeters are unheard of, substantially everybody does their own laundry, we mostly cook at home, etc. We also have unemployment insurance, a quasi public private scheem, where you will recieve up to 80% of your previous salary for up to 2 years, though the actual cap on the salary payout is low enough that most wouldn't get that much out of it. >How are you able to institute regulations that are both effective but not overly burdensome? We aren't, though because we don't have nearly the freedom of speech protections the US have, it is easier to curtail lobbyism (there is also the factor of scale, and most really large international companies move their profits to Ireland so their interest in lobbying here is limited in the first place), which means we don't generally have regulations that benefit a single big company (we also only have a handful of really big companies, such as Maesk and Lego and basically no really heavy industry which would normally require more regulations) We have lots of burdensome regulations: Uber is banned, the rules and regulations on unemployment and unemployment insurances are enormous, immigration law is constantly being changed to make it more difficult to get here (this is caused by political demand by one of the parties the government needs support from to stay in power). In general though, Denmark is (or was) a very productive society, even more so that Norway and Sweden, and we had a very high amount of trust (aka social cohesion) - to some extend this is still true. That means that it is generally easier to create regulations that people think are fair, so they are less likely to be broken. >How is Denmark able to balance a strong social-safety while promoting a productive working class/discouraging freeloaders? We have a problem with freeloaders in the working (or not working) class (in many cases unemployment/cash assistance will get you close to what you can make on an entry level job, which typically isn't that fun, so you might feel going to work is a joke), but the systems still have a huge support in general among everybody, partly because most people do believe that they will be there for them, the day they might need them. This is especially the case with health services, although, like the UK, the waiting lists are long. I carry private insurance (relatively inexpensive, because the amount covered is not that high) should I need, e.g shoulder surgery and this is getting to be a common perk. In general though I think people are more willing to tolerate some freeloading, so long as the system is kept, because the system is very popular. This is in direct contrast to the US, where people don't see the system as working for them, and so they are even less willing to accept freelancers. >What areas would you most like to see Denmark improve? I would love for us to focus on keeping an acceptable standard for the bottom and focus less on inequality, and I would for us to look more broadly about how to achieve it (e.g we have government health care, but that doesn't mean the government should necessarily run the hospitals, anymore than the government unemployment insurance should only be useable in government shops), with more trust/responsibility in individuals rather than regulations.
- grasshopperpurp 8y ago
  Thanks so much for the excellent response!

tomjen3 8y ago

>How is Denmark able to limit corruption (relative to most countries)? I really don't have a good answer to this one. I think it is a combination of relatively equal wages (so you would be limited in how much you can afford to pay in bribes and I don't have to take bribes to live) and very strong taboo. I mean it isn't perfect, there was a case that started about a year ago with a computer supply company called Atea that had arranged for 10% of payments to be diverted to a special account that the employees in charge of purchasing could then use for expensive trips. It also highlighted a lot of small favors that the company had done -- and it meant that people got (suspended) prison sentences and fines for such small things as getting an iPad on permanent "loan". >How is Denmark able to pay its working class such a high wage (relative to countries like the US)? That is mostly because they are in a position to demand it: we had relatively aggressive unions, but we also pay a very high "kontanthjælp" (directly translated: cash help) of about 1768 usd/month for a single person (on top of that comes rent assistance, though there is now a cap on the combined amount), much more if you a single parent (including completely paid for child care) -- that is less than it would be in the US, because we have a higher cost of living. Cash assistance is literally the lowest amount you can get, so effectively unless you pay more you are not going to be able to hire anybody (technically cash assistance requires that you are trying to get a job, in practice, you can learn to cheat the system). Note that this also means that many of the things that are done in the US are not done in Denmark: nobody packs bags for you at the supermarket, greeters are unheard of, substantially everybody does their own laundry, we mostly cook at home, etc. We also have unemployment insurance, a quasi public private scheem, where you will recieve up to 80% of your previous salary for up to 2 years, though the actual cap on the salary payout is low enough that most wouldn't get that much out of it. >How are you able to institute regulations that are both effective but not overly burdensome? We aren't, though because we don't have nearly the freedom of speech protections the US have, it is easier to curtail lobbyism (there is also the factor of scale, and most really large international companies move their profits to Ireland so their interest in lobbying here is limited in the first place), which means we don't generally have regulations that benefit a single big company (we also only have a handful of really big companies, such as Maesk and Lego and basically no really heavy industry which would normally require more regulations) We have lots of burdensome regulations: Uber is banned, the rules and regulations on unemployment and unemployment insurances are enormous, immigration law is constantly being changed to make it more difficult to get here (this is caused by political demand by one of the parties the government needs support from to stay in power). In general though, Denmark is (or was) a very productive society, even more so that Norway and Sweden, and we had a very high amount of trust (aka social cohesion) - to some extend this is still true. That means that it is generally easier to create regulations that people think are fair, so they are less likely to be broken. >How is Denmark able to balance a strong social-safety while promoting a productive working class/discouraging freeloaders? We have a problem with freeloaders in the working (or not working) class (in many cases unemployment/cash assistance will get you close to what you can make on an entry level job, which typically isn't that fun, so you might feel going to work is a joke), but the systems still have a huge support in general among everybody, partly because most people do believe that they will be there for them, the day they might need them. This is especially the case with health services, although, like the UK, the waiting lists are long. I carry private insurance (relatively inexpensive, because the amount covered is not that high) should I need, e.g shoulder surgery and this is getting to be a common perk. In general though I think people are more willing to tolerate some freeloading, so long as the system is kept, because the system is very popular. This is in direct contrast to the US, where people don't see the system as working for them, and so they are even less willing to accept freelancers. >What areas would you most like to see Denmark improve? I would love for us to focus on keeping an acceptable standard for the bottom and focus less on inequality, and I would for us to look more broadly about how to achieve it (e.g we have government health care, but that doesn't mean the government should necessarily run the hospitals, anymore than the government unemployment insurance should only be useable in government shops), with more trust/responsibility in individuals rather than regulations.

grasshopperpurp 8y ago
Thanks so much for the excellent response!