Beyond Incentives: Policy Learning and Changing Directions in Active Danish Labour Market Policies

Description

Active Danish labour market policies (ALMP) have undergone substantial changes since the mid-1990's. Throughout the 1990's, and accelerating when the Liberal-Conservative government came to power in 2001, more and more emphasis has been on work incentives. However, it seems that the path of improving incentives has come to an end. The Ministry of Labour has recently recognized that it is unrealistic to continue the strengthening of incentives much further.

This paper will focus on the learning processes that facilitated the switch to an ever-stronger emphasis on incentives, and to the current situation. What is the connection between the experience and evaluations of outcomes and the changes in policies? What role do interests play in this process? These are some of the questions that this paper will try to give answers to.