Description
Book SynopsisIf we believe that the small, open economies of Nordic Europe are paragons of good governance, why are they so prone to economic crisis? In Good Governance Gone Bad, Darius Ornston provides evidence that adapting flexibly to rapid, technological change and shifting patterns of economic competition may be a great virtue, but it does not prevent countries from making strikingly poor policy choices and suffering devastating results. Home to three of the big five financial crises in the twentieth century, Nordic Europe in the new millennium has witnessed a housing bubble in Denmark, the collapse of the Finnish ICT industry, and the Icelandic financial crisis.
Ornston argues that the reason for these two seemingly contradictory phenomena is one and the same. The dense, cohesive relationships that enable these countries to respond to crisis with radical reform render them vulnerable to policy overshooting and overinvestment. Good Governance Gone Bad tests this argument
Trade Review
Ornston shows how we can recognize this mechanism by a wider pattern of logical entailments, negative as well as positive. The book is carefully designed to reveal that pattern and painstakingly researched to bring it to life.
* Governance *
Darius Ornston has built on years of comparative political economic studies to provide an ambitious if demanding critical study of the region... [he] has made an important empirical and theoretical contribution.
* EuropeNow *
Ornston's book is a must-read not only for academics but also for Nordic policy makers, businesspeople, and all institutional actors who are keen to make rapid reforms in the name of innovation and change.
* American Journal of Sociology *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Introduction: The Nordic Paradox
1. Good Governance Gone Bad: Overshooting in Nordic Europe
2. Manufacturing a Crisis: Planning in Sweden
3. Connecting People: Innovation in Finland
4. From Banking on Fish to Fishy Banks: Liberalization in Iceland
5. Overshooting in Comparative Perspective: Contrasting Cases
6. Overshooting beyond Nordic Europe: Ireland and Estonia
Conclusion: Lessons for Large States
Appendix 1: Measuring Cohesive, Encompassing Networks
Appendix 2: Characterizing Economic Adjustment
Notes
References
Index
