Academic literature on the topic 'Economic development – scandinavia'

The report provides a comparative analysis of the current state of the countries of Scandinavia and Siberia. The purpose of the study: to show that sound state economic policies of the countries of Northern Europe lead to undeniable socio-economic progress. Based on the World Bank ratings, information from Rosstat of Russia, and expert opinions, the components of such a policy and the possibility of borrowing the experience of other countries in reforming economies are analyzed. Based on the specific tasks facing the system of regional planning and forecasting in the context of current trends in the development of Russia and the increasing impact of negative foreign economic and foreign policy factors on it, taking into account the experience of Scandinavia, the focus is on the role of technological development and innovation, state support of entrepreneurship. Institutional conditions for the implementation of nationwide reforms of federal relations and mechanisms to overcome stagnation in the development of Siberia are discussed.

The Danes and the Origin of the Danish KingdomOn the Research Programme “From Tribe to State in Denmark”Since the 1970’s, the ethnogenesis of the Danes and the origin of the Danish kingdom have attracted increased interest among Danish archaeologists. Marked changes over time observed in a growing source material form a new basis of interpretation. In written sources, the Danish realm does not appear until the Viking Age. The formation of the kingdom is traditionally placed as late as the 10th century (Jelling and all that). But prehistorians have raised the question whether the formation of the kingdom was not a much longer course. Some scholars believe that we have to study the periods preceding the Viking Age to be able to understand the development, at least from the 3rd century. In Scandinavia, this covers the Late Roman Iron Age, the Migration and Merovingian periods, as well as the early Viking Age. In a Continental perspective, it parallels the Late Antiquity (3rd-6th centuries) and the Early Middle Ages (6th-10th centuries).In 1984, the Danish Research Council launched the research programme “From Tribe to State in Denmark” which aimed to understand the formation of the Danish kingdom by studying the interaction between economic, social, and political circumstances from the Roman Period to the Viking Age. This paper presents a short synthesis of my work in the programme.Two themes have been brought into focus:1) The ethnogenesis of the Nordic peoples: the formation of the tribes that appear in the few and problematic written sources of the first millennium AD, in casu the Danes;2) The making of the Nordic kingdoms: in this case Denmark.A problem with this kind of long-term research is the inherent teleological perspective, revealed in the programme title. It is essential for me to emphasise that the early Danish kingdom was not a self-evident formation but the result of a series of concrete historical circumstances. There have been alternative possibilities at several occasions.In Scandinavia, the period is prehistoric. However, in South Scandinavia it deserves to be labelled protohistoric. Scandinavian archaeologists often forget or ignore the fact that in large parts of Europe, the first millennium AD is a historical period. The Scandinavian development is too often evaluated in isolation from the rest of Europe, in spite of the fact that the material culture demonstrates that interaction with continental as well as insular powers was continuously influencing Scandinavia. Necessarily, a relevant approach to Scandinavian late prehistory includes a historical dimension and a European perspective. South Scandinavian societies were over time linked to different realms in Europe. The Danish development was certainly part of a common west European trajectory.The best possibility of interpreting the archaeological record of South Scandinavia is by analogy with historians’ interpretations of other more or less contemporary Germanic peoples, based on descriptions in the written sources. Long-term studies of Scandinavian societies in the first millennium AD has laid new ground on which scholars have to build their image of the making of a Danish kingdom. The paper briefly describes some of the results and focuses on changes in the material that I find significant.Rural settlement: Great progress in the study of Iron Age and Early Mediaeval farming suggests economic growth, a development from subsistence economy to a production of a surplus, from collective forms of farming to individually run farmsteads, from small family farmsteads to large farms and manors. It is the surplus created by this expansion that could carry the late Viking and high medieval Danish kingdom with its administration, military power, church, towns, etc.Trade and exchange: Prestige-goods exchange dominated in the beginning of the period. Goods came from various parts of Europe. The connections to central and east Europe were broken in the sixth century, not to be reopened until the Viking Age. This explains the dominating position held by West European material culture in the development of South Scandinavia. Thus, South Scandinavia became part of the commercial zone of West Europe, certainly an important element in the making of the Danish kingdom. In the Viking Age, the rapid urbanisation demonstrates that Denmark gained great profit from its key position in the North Sea-Baltic trade network.Central places and early towns: Complex settlements appeared already in the Late Roman Iron Age, e.g. Gudme/Lundeborg, Funen. Further central sites appeared, and the number of central places grew rapidly. By the year 700, they are found in virtually every settlement area of South Scandinavia. The sites were not simple trading stations, as most were labelled a few years ago, but many also fulfilled important political, social, and religious functions; some were also manorial residences. The resident elite based their power on the mobilisation of the rural surplus; at the same time, one can say that the stimulus to produce a rural surplus was probably caused by an increasing demand from the elite at the centres.In the Viking Age, urbanisation began, which meant that the old central places lost their position and were replaced by towns like Hedeby, Ribe, and Århus. Excavations show that urbanisation started in the 8th century, a little later than the famous emporia Quentovic, Dorestad, Hamwic, and Ipswic.So today, it must be concluded that at the threshold to the Viking Age, South Scandinavian societies had a more advanced economic system and a more complex social organisation than believed only 20 years ago.Warfare: The dated indications of war cluster in two periods, the 3rd to 5th centuries, and the 10th to 11th centuries. The early period could be characterised as one of tribal warfare, in which many polities were forced to join larger confederations through the pressure of endemic warfare and conquests. In the archaeological record, indicators of war seem to disappear after AD 500, not to reappear in large numbers until the Viking Age. Was this period a Pax Danorum? Indeed, the silent archaeological record could indicate that the Danes had won hegemony in South Scandinavia. This phase can be understood as a period of consolidation between an early phase of tribal warfare and a later phase in which the territorial defence of a Danish kingdom becomes visible in the record.Wars with the Carolingian empire in the 9th century are the first wars in Denmark to be mentioned in the written record. However, archaeology demonstrates the presence of serious military threats in the centuries before, e.g. the first dykes at Danevirke. The strategic localisation of the period’s defence works reveals that threats were met with both navy and army. According to the texts, the 9th century wars are clearly national wars, either wars of conquest on a large scale between kingdoms, or civil wars, which for a large part seem to be triggered by an aggressive Frankish diplomacy.The two phases of warfare mirror two different military political situations: in the Late Roman and Migration Periods they are tribal wars and conflicts over resource control; in the Late Merovingian Period and the Viking Age they concern a Danish kingdom’s territorial defence.Religious changes: The conversion is often considered a major turning point in Scandinavian history; and in a way it was, of course. But the importance of Christianisation is heavily overestimated. The conversion was simply a step in a process that started long before. The paganism of the Scandinavians must not mislead us into believing that they were barbarians.A great change in cult practice took place around AD 500 when the use of bogs and lakes for offerings rapidly decreased. Instead, religious objects are found hoarded in settlement contexts, sometimes in the great halls of the magnates. This indicates that the elite had taken control of religion in a new way. The close link between cult and elite continued uninterrupted after Christianisation; churches were built by the magnates and on their ground. Therefore, we have a kind of cult-site continuity. From the Migration Period, the archaeological material demonstrates a close link between cult and magnates. This is certainly one important element in the formation of a Danish kingdom.Political development: Analyses of material culture reveal that South Scandinavia in the Early Iron Age consisted of many small regions, and based on sources like Tacitus and Ptolemy, one can guess that they correspond to tribal areas. In the Late Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period, the formation of a South Scandinavian super-region can be discerned, but still subdivided into a small number of distinguishable culture zones, and, again, on the basis of written sources (Jordanes and Procopius), one can guess that small tribes had joined into larger confederations precisely as on the Continent. In my opinion, a Danish kingdom appeared not later than the sixth century. Based on the well-studied material culture of the early Merovingian Period, one can assume that it had its core area in Central Denmark - South Jutland, Funen, and Zealand – with a close periphery of North Jutland, South Halland, Scania, Blekinge, and Bornholm. Probably more loosely attached to the Danish hegemony was a more distant periphery in South Sweden.So the Danish kingdom already had a history when it first appeared in the Frankish sources at the end of the 8th century. Danish involvement in European politics is first clearly observable in 777 and again in 782. Obviously, the Danish kingdom was a political and military actor on the North European scene long before the Viking Age.In the light of all these arguments, three phases can be described:– Roman Iron Age: Tribal societies with chieftains or small kings.– Late Roman Iron Age, Migration Period, and early Merovingian Period: A process of amalgamation started and warfare characterises the period. The result is the formation of tribal confederations. Written sources speak in favour of the Danes as the people who eventually won hegemony over South Scandinavia.– Late Merovingian Period and Viking Age: A process began in which royal agents replaced local chieftains. The last area to be integrated under direct Danish royal rule, in the reign of Sven Forkbeard, was probably Scania. Thus Medieval Denmark appeared.Final remarks: As a result of archaeological achievements in the last decades, a number of traditional views about Scandinavian late prehistory appear less likely, or rather erroneous. It is an underestimation that the pagans were unable of organisation and that a formation of a Danish kingdom is unthinkable before the late Viking Age. Unfortunately, the ethnogenesis of the Danes is beyond the reach of study, but a rough hypothesis may be formulated. The Danes were once one of several tribes somewhere in South Scandinavia. Events outside the Scandinavian scene were of fundamental importance for the possibility of the Danish gens to grow in power in the Late Roman and Migration Periods. Already before the Merovingian Period, the Danes won hegemony between the Baltic and the North Sea. A Danish kingdom could probably be based on this key position. Its survival was by no means a matter of course. In their continued efforts to secure the Danish position, capable kings established the borders of high medieval Denmark in the course of the Viking Age.Ulf NäsmanInstitutionen för humaniora och ­samhällsvetenskap Högskolan i Kalmar

The author substantiates the use of a comparative approach to the study of Siberia which involves a comparison of the dynamics of the development in Siberia and regional settlement systems having similar economic and geographical locations, settlement parameters, populations, and other characteristics, but of the higher development level. Such an approach would allow identifying the most significant institutional factors which have made it possible to achieve them the successful socio-economic development in the long-run period. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the long-term development in Siberia and Canada and Scandinavia. It is shown that such factor as local self-government and financial decentralization could be considered as the most important ones since they allowed an effective focus on tasks of building human and social capitals. A comparative analysis involves an application of much more information than economic and mathematical models and a time series analysis, and it may be applied together with them. The use of various methods and data sets would allow more informed results.

Subcentral governments have gradually become more and more important in the general level of public economic activity in Western nations, To an increasing extent, macroeconomic management implies that the economic activity of subcentral governments is taken into account. But how can central governments coordinate the economic activity of numerous subcentral governments? What kind of intergovernmental arrangement is necessary? The author argues that fiscal federalism, the traditional approach to this problem, cannot answer these questions satisfactorily. The focus of fiscal federalism is on economic incentives in intergovernmental relations. The author argues that this is not sufficient. Fiscal federalism must be supplemented by a focus on political methods of influence. An analysis of Scandinavian and US ways of involving subcentral governments in macroeconomic management shows that the role played by subcentral government associations is crucial in the effectiveness of macroeconomic management.

The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies continued to organize in 2012 a series of events, one of the most meaningful of which was the third international conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies entitled European networks: the Balkans, Scandinavia and the Baltic world in a time of economic and ideological crisis opened on 25 May at Valahia University of Târgoviște and sponsored by the Romanian National Research Council, Niro Investment Group and other partners (http://www.arsbn.ro/conference-2012.htm). The main goal of the conference was to foster debate and academic discussion with regard to the challenges the Balkan and Baltic regions face today, within a time of severe global economic instability. The participants discussed and advanced solutions to problems such as the accession of Balkan states to the EU and/or NATO, with particular reference to the experiences of the relatively new EU and/or NATO Member States from South-Eastern Europe and the Eastern Baltic region; the economic, security or cultural threats posed by Balkan and/or Eastern European states or non-state actors to the Western or Nordic Europe as perceived there; the development of extremist movements and the Balkan organized crime in the Scandinavian countries; the Balkan Roma peoples as a “threat” for Western and Nordic Europe; strategies for integrating minorities in the Baltic Sea rim countries and the Black Sea areas.

В рецензии анализируется монография М. Джонаса о политических и социально-экономических отношениях скандинавских стран в годы Первой мировой войны. Автор провел анализ развития Швеции, Норвегии и Дании в условиях нейтралитета и в целом сложного положения между воюющими блоками. При этом книга не оставляет целостного впечатления, выбраны лишь отдельные сюжеты, и общей картины развития Скандинавии в указанный период Джонасу воспроизвести не удалось. Тем не менее обращение к этой относительно редкой теме уже привлекает внимание, к тому же многие сюжеты, поднятые автором, будут интересны историкам Первой мировой войны. The paper reviews M. Jonas’s monograph on political and socio-economic relations of the Scandinavian countries during World War I. The author analyzes the development of Sweden, Norway and Denmark in their conditions of neutrality and in general, the complicated relations between the fighting alliances. The book does not show an integrated picture, as the author chooses certain episodes, and Jonas fails to present an overall picture of Scandinavia during this period. Nevertheless, addressing this rather unique topic attracts attention. Besides, many subjects raised by the author will be of interest to historians of the World War I.

The article examines the level of education in the Scandinavian countries, educational opportunities for first- and second-generation migrants. The research demonstrates the high level of education provided by Scandinavian higher education institutions not only for the local population, but also for international students. The developed Scandinavian education system with good learning conditions and relatively low tuition fees for foreigners attracts foreign students. We also examined the economic component of the success of Scandinavian education systems. The level of education in the Scandinavian countries is one of the highest in the world, the state budget for the development of the education sector is much larger than in other EU countries. Annually the countries of the Scandinavian region allocate the largest share of the budget among European states to education. Decentralization of decision-making and administration of basic education to regional and local bodies is typical in all Nordic region countries. National-level decision-making is also divided between ministries and one or several national agencies in all these countries. The article provides statistics on the level of education of the general population and a comparison of the level of labor migrants’ education. In order to understand the comprehensive picture of education and employment of immigrants, we carefully examined the migration waves and trends in Northern Europe from the second half of the last century to the present. The article provides detailed statistical data on migrants and their descendants in Scandinavia in general and on individual countries, the status and statistics on family migration. Scandinavian scientists and statisticians comprehensively study the issue of migrants and their integration into society, they realize the fact that new arrivals should be considered and treated as individuals with specific problems. That’s why they need a thorough study of their immigrant background, providing opportunities to learn English or the required Scandinavian language, as well as opportunities and prospects for Ukrainian migrants under martial law.

ABSTRACT In general, the literature on the developmental state studies Asia and Latin America, not Scandinavia. This article examines the developmental character of the state in Sweden, distinguishing it as a specific case, because its institutions and policies combine the simultaneous promotion of industrialization and social equity. The paper analyzes the Swedish model of development, centered in Rehn-Meidner Plan (R-M), a political strategy of the national development headed by the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP). It is argued that in Sweden industrialization and the construction of the welfare state were two sides of the same coin. The R-M Plan played a key role in consolidating the Swedish model between 1945 and 1975. It combined and articulated economic development, centered on industrialization, reduction of social inequalities, and fiscal and monetary stability. It increased productive complexity and equality, unified economic policy and social policy, planned industrialization and income redistribution. It was structured through a broad power pact among workers, industry, farmers, political representatives elected by SAP and public bureaucracy. It was institutionalized, above all, by the democratic corporatist arrangement of centralized salary negotiations.

The socio-economic development of the country is the goal of every state. An important element in achieving this goal is the availability and application of a macroeconomic generalizing indicator that reveals the purpose of public policy. The main aim of the study is to identify the socio-economic characteristics of the organization of life in the countries of Scandinavia, using the macroeconomic generalizing indicator RAZ (the name of the indicator is based on the first part of the Russian word “razvitie” translated as “development”), proposed by the authors. The authors consider this indicator as suitable for cross-country comparisons of the quality of life and an objective estimation of development of the society from the point of view of focusing on the maximum disclosure of person's abilities and personal development. The research was based on the methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization and modeling, as well as on the case-study method. The use of these methods made it possible to identify the characteristics of the socio-economic organization of life and characteristics defining quality of life (human birth, education and medical care) in their composition, and also the indicators corresponding to them characterizing qualitative changes — levels of human birth rate, education and medical care. The generalized estimation of the specified characteristics defining quality of life, it is offered to make by means of a macroeconomic generalizing indicator. For its calculation a set of the quantity indicators defining quality of life (population in the country, number of the persons trained in an education system and number of healthy people) is generated. The authors make an assessment of the macroeconomic generalizing indicator and the set of the quantity indicators defining quality of life (the population in the country, the number of healthy people and the number of people studying in the education system).The study has developed an approach to calculating defining quality of life indicators using the System of National Accounts according to the data of the European Bureau of Statistical Research and the official websites of the national statistical services of the countries of Scandinavia and Switzerland as a country that has indicators close to the leading values of the countries of Scandinavia. These estimates can be used for comparative analysis purposes. The study compiled a rating of countries according to the macroeconomic generalizing indicator. According to calculations, Norway occupies a leading position. The lowest rank is observed in Sweden. There are changes in the quality of life in society, and this complex phenomenon requires an objective assessment. Generalizing indicator of the development provides such an assessment. The indicator allows us to evaluate the set of characteristics that determine the quality of life, which is not yet taken into account in cross-country comparisons, and to compare them. It has been established that the lack of development of the conceptual apparatus and the unavailability of important statistical information complicate the principle of compiling the indicator and lead to an inaccurate calculation of the macroeconomic generalizing indicator at this study stage. Nevertheless, it was found out that the calculation could be made in relation to the following levels: humanity (world), country, region or city. Further research is planned to study substantiation of the conceptual device of formation of RAZ as indicator for cross-country comparisons of quality of life and an objective estimation of development of the society, as well as for using it as a modelling element of social and economic systems. Besides, it is necessary to develop additional characteristics that take into account the influence of a person’s life expectancy on the quality of his life, as well as in clarifying the conceptual apparatus for forming a macroeconomic generalizing indicator RAZ for building a rational organization of people's place of residence. This approach creates new theoretical and methodological foundations for scientific knowledge of the socio-economic development of the countries and allows us to analyze the quality of life as a base which moves development of the countries in different historical periods and to see the development of the world in the future in a different way.

The Problem Women working across the globe have struggled to achieve positions of leadership while also taking parental leave, accessing affordable child care, and maintaining work–life balance. Alternate models are needed, in particular those relevant to the development and retention of women in the workplace. The Solution Scandinavia is leading the world in gender equality (World Economic Forum). Of these progressive Nordic countries, the United Nations Commission has identified Sweden as one of the best countries in the world for women to live and work (World Economic Forum). The purpose of this article is to gain a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of professional women leaders living and working in Sweden. The Stakeholders With implications for employee retention and pay equity, this research may be useful for human resource development professionals, leadership developers, and educators. It may also be informative to women across the globe, hoping to learn how other countries treat and support their female and male employees, especially during parental leaves.

AbstractResearch in economic geography on innovation and regional development is an important and thriving research area in Scandinavia, which has contributed significantly to theoretical and empirical advancements beyond the Scandinavian research environments. This chapter demonstrates how the field has developed and changed its focus over the years, touching upon and developing around central academic and societal topics from deindustrialisation, clusters and regional innovation systems to creativity, green transition and changing regional development paths. The chapter focuses on how research milieus have developed in Scandinavia, how theories, methodologies and methods have advanced and how researchers have worked together nationally and internationally during the last four decades.

Human reproductive success requires both producing children and making investments in the development of offspring. To a large extent these investments are made by the parents of the child, but researchers are now looking beyond the nuclear family to understand how extended kin, notably grandmothers, enhance reproductive success by making transfers to progeny of different kinds. The extent to which kin influence fertility and mortality outcomes may vary across different socio-economic and geographic contexts; as a result, an international comparative framework is used here to sharpen our understanding of the role of kin in reproduction. This chapter assesses the role of grandmothers in fertility outcomes in a comparative historical demographic study based on data from Scandinavia and North America. The individual-level data used are all longitudinal and multigenerational, allowing us to address the impact of maternal and paternal grandmothers on the fertility of their daughters and daughters-in-law. Attending to heterogeneous effects across space and time as well as within-family differences via the use of fixed effects models, we discover broader associations of the paternal grandmother with higher fertility across the four regions. We also find a general fertility advantage associated with the post-reproductive availability or recent death of the maternal grandmother in the four populations. Important variations across regions nevertheless exist in terms of the strength of the association and the importance of the grandmother’s proximity. Our interpretation is that grandmothers were generally associated with high-fertility outcomes, but that the mechanism for this association was co-determined by family configurations, resource allocation and the advent of fertility control.

This chapter explores the development of Moorcroft’s work against the background of two major international exhibitions: the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924, and the Exposition des arts décoratifs et industriels in Paris the following year. His high-profile involvement in the Wembley exhibition, epitomised in his magnificent stand designed by Edward Maufe, was one of the landmarks of his career. His display enhanced his reputation as a ceramic artist, culminating in an article published in the Daily Graphic entitled ‘A Potter of Genius’. Surviving reports written to Moorcroft three or four times a week by his two assistants record the impact made by his ware on the many visitors to the stand, from celebrities to ordinary members of the public. Such was Moorcroft’s status as one of the country’s most innovative potters that he was put under considerable pressure by the Board of Trade to exhibit at the Paris Exhibition. This event would become a focus for extensive reflection about the need to modernise British industrial design. While some argued for the aesthetic and economic benefits of following more closely the European and Scandinavian styles in evidence at the Paris Exhibition, Moorcroft did not. He set out his position in a letter to The Times, arguing for design primarily as a mode of self-expression, not of commercial expediency. For all that his work did not follow the trends of ‘modern’ style, it was nevertheless awarded a Gold Medal at the Exhibition. These are the years of Moorcroft’s greatest commercial success, but this was not the basis of his reputation. He was admired for his distinctive, expressive art, described in one review as ‘cogent and articulate’.

Abstract How did the relatively backward areas of Europe narrow the gap, in terms of economic and fiscal development, with the ‘more advanced’ areas? This chapter seeks to explain what might be called the ‘early harmonization’ of the European economy, which was the product of a long period of state formation in Scandinavia. During this process, three kingdoms came into being, namely Denmark, Norway and Sweden (with Finland). Other types of governmental structure formed on the periphery of these kingdoms. The Danish and German social and fiscal systems fused in Schleswig and Holstein, while peasant republics existed in Iceland and Ditmarschen on the west coast of Holstein. This chapter attempts to demonstrate how and why these early states moved towards the European level of fiscal development. The main emphasis will be on the majority of the population in these areas, the peasants, and on the mechanisms by which their economic surplus was transferred to the nascent state structure.

This chapter focuses on the three sources of income in the Viking Age economy: pillaging, farming, and trade. It highlights that there was tension between these sources of income as people in Viking Age society lived a hand-to-mouth existence, and plundering and trading claimed human resources that would otherwise be working the farm. Farming was the fundamental element of the Viking Age economy in Scandinavia because local food production provided the basis for society's continued existence. Additionally, the chapter provides the context that householders, in clear distinction from their counterparts in other parts of Europe, did not pay taxes to their kings and chieftains. Demographic growth played a crucial role in economic development during this period. The chapter also speaks of a large portion of the riches acquired by the Vikings on their raids which probably ended up in the pockets of the Danish kings. Next, the chapter looks at the mercantile activities of the Vikings who controlled the seas in western and northern Europe and the routes that bound the trading networks together.

The study of warfare among ancient societies – its nature, scale and impacts – has become an increasingly fertile multidisciplinary field of research in archaeology and related disciplines. This is particularly true for the European Bronze Age, an epoch that has produced iconic arte- facts, architecture, images, and written sources that speak about war and warriorhood. Modern research has made it sufficiently clear that, far from being the singular acts of heroic individ - uals, ancient warfare was common, brutal, and well-organized. However, war, as an extreme form of social interaction, has also been a driver for technological and economic development. From Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, the archaeological record has preserved rich traces of the warrior elite that was instrumental in transforming Bronze Age societies. This body of evidence is being studied with increasingly diverse analytical tools, ranging from use-wear analysis of weapons to forensic analysis of human remains and GIS-based spatial analysis. The following is a summary of author’s research on the multiple aspects and archaeological sources that surround the topics of war and warriors in Bronze Age Europe.

Abstract The ongoing integration of the financial markets within the European Union (EU) and the introduction of the Euro as well as deregulation and technological progress have led to the rapid development of true cross-border trade in financial services. Competition has forced financial institutions to seek income from novel products and new business activities as well as economies of scale through larger corporate size. All this, together with the structural changes forced by the banking crisis in the 1990s and the wealth generated by the recent success of Finnish industry, has contributed to the increase and globalization of the Finnish financial markets, which today are closely connected to Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and the rest of Europe. The Finnish banking sector is dominated by Scandinavian banks which are in competition with their smaller Finnish rivals. Banking technology is highly developed, and payments are efficiently effected through a giro system in which all banks participate. Internet banking is well established with all client groups and allows for both payments and investments in real time through the Internet.

In contrast to the relative scarcity of publications dealing with the buildings and layouts of rural settlements, many volumes have been devoted to the development of early medieval trade and craft production (e.g. Jankuhn et al. 1981; 1983; K. Düwel et al. 1987, vols. 1–4; Hodges and Whitehouse 1983). Archaeological research into these topics has been made more fruitful—as well as more complex—by the contributions of neighbouring disciplines such as history, geography, and numismatics. It has, however, tended to focus almost exclusively on towns, monasteries, and royal centres, yet craft production, trade, and exchange also played a significant role in farming communities before and after the emergence of such specialized centres. Indeed, the rural settlements of northwest Europe were already significantly differentiated in their economies in the Migration period, suggesting a high level of socio-economic complexity several centuries earlier than has generally been supposed. The evidence now available for trade and non-agrarian production, which derives almost wholly from archaeology, calls for a thoroughgoing reassessment of when and how centralized authorities emerged in northern Europe after the collapse of the western Empire. This is particularly true for northern Germany and southern Scandinavia, where early state formation has conventionally been dated to the late Viking period. Research into state formation has in the past focused on the origins of towns and market centres, the latter usually seen as arising from participation in long-distance trade which was controlled by kings or magnates. Yet, several centuries before there were kings or towns in northern Europe, rural settlements emerged which point to a degree of political centralization. This chapter considers the evidence for these rural centres and the role of non-agrarian production and exchange in rural settlements generally: what was the scale and context of the production, distribution, and consumption of non-agrarian goods? Who controlled these activities, and how, if at all, did the long-distance trade networks which fuelled the nascent towns of Merovingian and Viking Age Europe affect the economies of the communities which lay in their hinterlands?

This chapter examines how Nordic silent films circulated as far away from Scandinavia as in Australia. This far-flung distribution chain was facilitated and hampered by political and economic developments on both sides of the globe. In the 1910s, the Copenhagen-based Nordisk Film Company was the second largest exporter of films in the world. Distributed primarily by Pathé Frérès and Nordisk, Swedish and Danish silent films played to great success all over the continent of Australia. Early Nordic stars, in particular Asta Nielsen and Valdemar Psilander, were beloved. As products of neutral countries, Danish and Swedish films continued to circulate internationally during the war. By the time silent film was rendered obsolete by sound film, the distribution of Nordic film in the Pacific was largely a thing of the past. The chapter reconstructs the circulation of these films from remaining traces including newspapers of the period

Chapter 5 examines the dramatic role beer has played in Europe from the early henges in the United Kingdom, to Greek beer production during the Bronze Age, to Scandinavia’s role in beer production from northern Europe to Iceland. Archaeological evidence from Celtic settlements documents beer-production methods and the connection of beer to the mortuary treatment of their ancestors during the Anglo-Saxon period. The chapter discusses the rise of beers through European history and how they have had a major impact on the health, economic growth, and ritual life of Europeans. The end of the chapter will explore the origins and development of hops and European beers from ales to stouts.

Regional and national development has always been impacted with the synchronisation of the public and the private sector. The growth of privately owned enterprises contributes significantly to the national economy, employment and prosperity, but also to the national pride, brand name and reputation for further investments to be made in a country. Therefore the support of the public sector to the development of the private sector is mandatory for the public sector to keep its private sector and avoid a catastrophic brain drain. Scandinavia is one of the regions with remarkable achievements in innovation, science, technology and economy compared to its size, as league of nations and population with other countries or regions. This paper attempts to identify the main elements of the unique Scandinavian government business policy formula for innovation startup success, particularly in Sweden and Finland, which has been key in creating a region with an incredibly high density of “unicorns” (BN$ companies per capita), second to Silicon Valley.The paper has used a research methodology which is based on primary research taking the form of interviews and surveys, along with secondary research based on existing academic literature.The research conducted in this paper identifis and analyses tax structures, government favors, human resource bases, public private partnerships, social safety nets, venture capital and investment infrastructures, R&D investments, and business support systems available to entrepreneurs of the Scandinavian countries. Having identified such key elements, the paper propose a more globally applicable public sector model for the support and encouragement of startups, and business innovation. The model named Scandinavian Democratic Governmental Support Model for Start-Ups and Innovations (SDeGMSI) is based on the practices of Scandinavian governments, while also accounting factors such as cultural values, performance of local economies, and demographic characteristics. The democratic concept in the development of this model is supported by the Company Democracy Model, another Scandinavian innovation management model, and is critical for the fair and unbiased support of the government to all the organizations and startups that can demonstrate significant and valuable intellectual capital for the economy and the society. SDeGSISM is characterized by its triple-pyramid for public support of startups and Innovation and can be used to help develop more internationally competitive economies through the establishment of a series of publicly enforced innovation supports and changes to the business environment. The three interrelated pyramids of the model represent the levels of support provided by the government to start-ups (reversed pyramid 1), the types of organisations across which said support is distributed (pyramid 2), and the impact that support, once applied to start-ups, should have on an economic level (reversed pyramid 3). The pyramids, organised by volume of support provided, disruptive potential of businesses, and scale of impact, respectively, provide an indication and an assessment on how governments are aligned with the Nordic model for entrepreneurial support.Furthermore, structures, practices and metrics available in the model support the creation of more dynamic economies which favor market development and disruption over the continued market dominance of incumbents. The “market-favoring” economies which this model seeks to both encourage and foster are more conducive to economic dynamism and create greater opportunities for investors, as cycles of market disruption increases the potential for widespread returns.The paper indicates limitations on the proposed model and identifies areas of further research for future development and applications.

Many natural languages contain a large number of borrowed words, which usually enter the language as the result of cultural-historical, socio-economic and other relations between people. The article is devoted to the English language which, in the process of its historical development, was crossed with the Scandinavian languages and the Norman dialect of the French language. In addition, English almost, throughout its history, had linguistic interaction with Latin, French, Spanish, Russian, German and other languages of the world. This article examines the influence of Latin, French and Scandinavian languages as well as the development of English as the language of international communication.

In Latvia, the global business services sector accounts for 2.3 % of GDP, and its share in total service exports is 8 %, while the turnover of the sector in 2019 was estimated at EUR 400 mln., which indicates that the global business services sector in Latvia is an important component of the national economy. The global business services sector in Latvia has developed relatively recently, so it has not yet been sufficiently assessed and researched. The aim of the research is to describe the factors affecting the development of the global business services sector in Latvia. The research concluded that the global business services sector in Latvia was promoted by such factors as the availability of labour and low labour costs, as well as a relatively favourable business environment. The potential of the global business services sector in Latvia is also characterized by its advantageous geographical location, especially from the perspective of Scandinavian investors (including in terms of cultural similarities), as well as the foreign language skills of potential employees. The establishment of the Association of Business Service Leaders in Latvia (ABSL Latvia) (the only such an association in the Baltic States that defends the interests of this sector) is also an important driver for the development of the sector.

Political and economic developments and problems are either directly or indirectly linked to each other. Hence, I would be dealing here with both. But the problems are so serious, numerous and complicated that I will be content with only submitting a list of these problems without deepening on any. It should also be stressed that Eurasia itself as a geographical entity covers a very large number of countries with different historical, political and economic backgrounds. Hence, we may have to think about different regions or groups of countries. On the European side, even the EU is not homogeneous today. We have the United Kingdom, Scandinavian countries, developed continental European countries, Iberian countries, the Balkans and Eastern European countries. Even in simple developmental terms, we have at least two tiers, a first tier of democratically and economically developed countries, and the second tier those with less experience in democracy and less economically developed. In Asia, on the other hand, we have such big countries as Russia, China, Japan and India, as well as such regional groups as South-East Asian countries, Central Asian Turkic-origin countries, Caucasian, Afghanistan and Pakistan also including Bangladesh, and Middle-Eastern, with Iran as a separate politico-economic entity. Similarly, Turkey, at the cross-roads between Europe, Asia and the Middle-East, is another, but different unique case.

<p>According to the UN department of Economy and Social affairs, 68% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas by 2050 [1]. Since urban areas represent the coming together of different transport modes on limited space, it is a transportation environment with an inherent high probability of clashes. These clashes are known to occur between different groups, e.g. pedestrians and cyclists.</p><p>In the Scandinavian countries, cycling is taking on an impressive cut of overall transport volume. Copenhagen has experienced a steady rise in bicycle traffic throughout the past decades –as recent data confirms [2].</p><p>Copenhagen has been the model case for Scandinavian and other cities to look at how to increase bicycle traffic. However, with the e-bike and other battery driven devices such as speed-pedelecs on the rise, the system as we know it is threatened. It is necessary to raise awareness for this change and induce behavioral change with the so-called “soft” traffic users. What are the recent findings in this field and what challenges are identifiable. What can be done in order not to put a positive development under threat?</p>

In 2008-09 the banking sectors of four Central and East European States and three Baltic States have experienced a large-scale financial crisis in the EU for the first time since becoming foreign-owned. Amongst the new EU member states Baltic States and Hungary were the worst affected economies. The paper first explores why the extent of crisis varied among these seven states by distinguishing major differences in the pre-crisis bank lending practices which reflect different macroeconomic developments and exchange rate policies in these states. Based on the analysis of bank performance indicators since 2008 and my interviews with representatives of major banks active in the region, the important role of foreign banks in mitigating the risks of financial contagion is outlined. The implication from the crisis is examined mainly from the perspective of the financial supervision and regulation in the enlarged EU. By inspecting the concrete experience of financial supervision authorities in the Baltic States the paper shows why the host country supervisors were not able to curb excessive lending and risk-taking by large Scandinavian banks. Since it is expected that the new EU regulatory and supervisory framework will reinforce the financial stability in the case of large cross-border banking groups, the paper addresses the issues in the financial crisis prevention, management are resolution in the new EU member states which will improve based on the new EU regulatory and supervisory framework for credit institutions.

In recent years, green hydrogen has emerged as an important energy carrier for future sustainable development. Due to the possibility of not emitting CO2 during its generation and use, hydrogen is considered a perfect substitute for current fossil fuels. However, a major drawback of hydrogen production by water electrolysis, supplied by renewable electricity, is its limited economic competitiveness compared to conventional energy sources. Therefore, this work focuses on analyzing the sustainability of a green hydrogen production plant, not only considering its environmental parameters, as well as its economic, energy and efficiency parameters. The polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) is selected as the most promising method of green hydrogen production in the medium and long term. Subsequently, a small-scale production plant is simulated using chemical process simulation software to obtain key data for computing a set of sustainability indicators. The selected indicators are based on the Gauging Reaction Effectiveness for the Environmental Sustainability of Chemistries with a Multi-Objective Process Evaluator (GREENSCOPE) methodology and are used to compare the sustainability of the simulated PEM plant with alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) plant. Finally, the process is scaled-up to analyze the feasibility of the simulated PEM system and validated against data to determine the operation of the electrolyser at a large production scale.

This study is an international comparison of Japan and Scandinavia regarding necessary conditions in manufacturing industries that are undergoing servitization.With the shift of developed economies to services, there has been a noticeable trend toward the shift of manufacturing industries to services. However, Japanese manufacturing industries lack service personnel in all aspects, including service planning, management, and front-line operations, because their operations differ from those of traditional manufacturing industries. The shortage of human resources is a phenomenon, and it is necessary to address the structural issues that prevent the development of human resources. Toya (2016, 2020, 2022) identified the obstacles to Servitization in the Japanese manufacturing industry as: a seed-oriented organizational culture, lack of medium- and long-term evaluation of business and human resources, low mobility of human resources, and, by extension, a lack of the industry structure, and attitudes toward the way they work. At the same time, we have conducted structural and time-series analyses based on large-scale fixed-point survey data on the status of servicization. An international comparison focusing on the unique manufacturing culture of the Japanese manufacturing industry and institutional issues related to human resource development and mobility, as revealed by these previous studies, was necessary.This study quantitatively compares Japan and the Nordic countries in terms of the elements and structures that impede the shift to manufacturing services. Specifically, a survey will be conducted simultaneously with manufacturing management in four Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark) and Japan for comparative analysis. The survey is currently underway and the results and discussion will be presented at a later date.