Comments on: Almost Nothing Rotten in Denmark

By: Best Fat Burning Food by Trina

Best Fat Burning Food by Trina — Sun, 24 May 2009 07:45:33 +0000

I support your cause. Such a growing problem in america

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:28:49 +0000

The 63,5% highest rate of income tax, which in 2009 was reduced down to around 58% I believe, is not marginal. It is an average rate. That is, 58 cents in every dollar earned goes out in tax,
So mortgage interest is tax deductible — not an especially attractive compensation.

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:24:20 +0000

Even an extreme liberal like myself, in favor of progressive taxation, less inequality, and strong regulation of markets, finds it weird here in Denmark. The levels of all of these, in Denmark, go beyond what even I would want to see in the U.S.. It makes life pretty nice here, though. The “ghettos” of Denmark, where immigrants are concentrated, are some pretty nice housing complexes – quite up to the level of the average middle-income apartment complexes in the U.S. The lack of crime is amazing, though drunken vandalism does leave a lot of broken bottles about.

By: Dain

Dain — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:20:58 +0000

Having lived in California all my life (“Cali baby!”) and also having visited Denmark, I can say that although Danish women are attractive in that yuppie-ish, “Ready Made” magazine, cute and elfin white girl kind of way, they are no match for the diversity of the Golden State’s females. Yes, boring in comparison. Vs. the USA as a whole? I’d still say so, given the astonishing array of personality types – and body types (thick for the so inclined) – and lifestyles you’ll encounter. In Denmark it’s small apartments and bicycles for everyone.

But yea I’d rather live there, at least for a long while. Hey, I like electronic music and the internet alot.

By: R. Light

R. Light — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 23:55:55 +0000

Will- beautiful Danish women sunbathing topless at the beaches at Aarhus is hardly boring!

By: Will Wilkinson

Will Wilkinson — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:06:14 +0000

TGGP,

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.20046/pub_detail.asp

By: TGGP

TGGP — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:48:00 +0000

Will, what do you think of this?

By: Will Wilkinson

Will Wilkinson — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 17:22:22 +0000

Kevin,

The general point about equality and happiness is that it has no independent effect. But, not surprisingly, if you happen to care a lot about equality, you’ll find low inequality congenial. It turns out that Americans don’t care a lot about inequality, and our relatively high levels have no effect either way on average happiness. The Danes, I bet, are generally really proud of being an egalitarian society, and so low inequality there probably has on average a positive effect.

This point seems to really aggravate egalitarians, since it’s basically saying that if you like chocolate, more chocolate will make you happier, and if you don’t it won’t. Egalitarians would like us to care about equality because it has an independendt effect on well-being, rather than its having an effect (or not) just because we happen to care about it (or don’t).

By: Andreas

Andreas — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 17:02:36 +0000

While I like this post a lot, I’m slightly dissapointed that Will does not look for any innovation ranking, yet claims that Denmark is lacking far behind.

Denmark is characterised by many small companies with low R&D. how ever – there are many forms of innovation and Denmark is leading on process, product and organization.
R&D is high on biotech, and in the food industry.

Denmark was just ranked nr. 1 in ICT http://www.weforum.org/en/media/Latest%20Press%20Releases/gitr_2007_press_release

… and manages well on other criteria: http://www.worldbusinesslive.com/article/625442/the-worlds-top-innovators-index/

If scaling (accounting for Denmark being a small country) is taken into consideration, DK is by this paper ranked as no. 4 in Europe http://www.google.dk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=39&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oecd.org%2Fdataoecd%2F9%2F61%2F37450770.pdf&ei=4FvQRtqbJpjIwQHkg4SZCA&usg=AFQjCNFJoqbrEwaDHkoL_nNt4vYi583KJw&sig2=PKv5yRPnNLd4ZLYbZbL_dA

And while DK may be boring on some aspects.. well… Some parts of the states are not all that jazz

By: Kevin B. O'Reilly

Kevin B. O'Reilly — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 12:29:54 +0000

So does Denmark’s lowest in the world inequality have something to do with their overall happiness? I thought you said stuff like that didn’t really affect happiness.

By: Lau

Lau — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 01:04:52 +0000

Jed, I’m not saying it’s better to eat out. You can afford it more easily in the US. I think the reason people out less in Denmark is because of taxes.

-It is so expensive(partly due to taxes).
-People work less because of the high marginal taxes.
-People don’t have a lot of money left after taxes.

And I don’t want the government to tax people to make them healthy – I don’t think that would work anyway.

“The continued viability of countries like Denmark depends on the success of countries like the U.S.”

Even though the private sector in Denmark is hampered by taxes, there is still some production going on, it’s just not as much as it could be.

So for instance the Danish company Maersk is the largest container shipping company in the world. They also produce oil. Denmark as a country is a net exporter of oil. AFAIK the US is a net importer – so when it comes to shipping or oil you could say that the US “depends on the success of countries like Denmark”. And that’s not a bad thing – it’s the case for virtually everyone. We all depend on trade.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:34:40 +0000

I’m a Dane. Most people I know are happy, healthy, pretty and friendly.

However, since I am very smart, educated and ambitious I should think carefully about what country I bless with my effort.

Should I pay the very high tax and lessen the probability of ever earning economic independence, in return for an easy life, or, should I move to a country that is more friendly towards my kind?

The thing is, there is so much more left after tax, that it will be easy to afford an apartment or house in the foreign country and in Denmark, travel a lot, have a maid and still meet my friends now and then.

Denmark, you will never give me autonomy.

By: Jed

Jed — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:11:58 +0000

I don’t take issue with what you’re saying because (a) I don’t know anything about Denmark, and (b) I’m a piss poor economist.

I will, however, take issue with Lau’s assertion that going out to eat more often is somehow better than people eating at home. It’s not. It’s one of the reasons Americans are so fat, and it’s leading to the loss of our cultural heritage—i.e. Americans no longer know how to cook. But I’m just one person who cares a lot about food, just as Lau is a Dane who wants lower taxes—these are anecdotes.

I’m digressing.

I have a question for Will:

The continued viability of countries like Denmark depends on the success of countries like the U.S.

Why is this? Or why do you think this is? It’s not apparent to me at all.

By: intonaco » Blog Archive » Excellent analysis: Denmark as a non-innovative, boring succes - dependant on US

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 07:00:44 +0000

[...] from CATO is always a favourite read. Pertaining to the debate about tax cuts he has an excellent post. addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fintonaco.abatonet.dk%2F%3Fp%3D185′; addthis_title = [...]

By: Marshall

Marshall — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:30:45 +0000

I am tired of reading statistics about Denmark which in no way capture how it feels to live in Denmark.

I have four questions which I beg you to answer:

1) How many people live in Denmark?

2) Where exactly is Denmark?

3) Is the capital of Denmark on an island?

4) What’s the weather like in Denmark?

If you don’t know the answers, then you can’t use the statistics.