Top economists reject LA mayor comparison with Anker Jørgensen

Denmark is bringing in money, unemployment is low and public finances are overflowing. Yet a dispute is growing over whether the government’s plans to increase spending resemble the economic policies of Anker Jørgensen’s time.

That comparison comes from Mads Strange, Liberal Alliance’s political spokesman. He says the government’s intention to turn up spending reminds him of the period when Denmark’s economy was heading toward the abyss under Anker Jørgensen, the former Social Democratic prime minister.

Two of Denmark’s leading economists see it very differently. They describe the comparison as meaningless and say it has no basis in reality.

The disagreement reflects a sharper political argument beneath what might otherwise appear to be broad agreement about Denmark’s favorable economic position. The article places Strange’s warning against the economists’ rejection, making the dispute less about the current figures than about what they are supposed to signal.