This course analyzes the ideational foundations, structural conditions, and cultural contexts shaping the European and Scandinavian economy, its social welfare systems, and its diverse business cultures. It elucidates why and how European economies and companies have been successful in achieving a very high level of competitiveness while developing extensive welfare systems. By focusing specifically on Scandinavian countries, the course illustrates how cultural predilections and public attitudes influence the ways of organizing the economy and society. The course also explores major future challenges to these economic and social models (demographic decline, rising global competition, and economic fragility of some welfare systems) and asks what China and Hong Kong can learn from the Nordic experience.
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