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CEFAU Chronicle: AI Can Increase Productivity, but It Wont Happen by Itself

Marie Møller Kjeldsen — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:22:03 +0200

The use of AI in Danish companies is growing rapidly and is already widespread. However, it is not a given that we will reap all the potential productivity gains from AI.

Research from CEFAU shows that AI is continuously changing the content of jobs and the skills in demand. The right competencies are a prerequisite for companies, public workplaces, and society as a whole to realize all of AI's productivity benefits. In a new column in JP Finans, Associate Professor Michael Koch and Senior Analyst Marie Møller Kjeldsen highlight what is needed. It requires action from several sides:

Companies must provide targeted upskilling and organize work around tasks that are constantly evolving
Educational institutions must ensure updated and relevant education and continuing training opportunities
Politically, mobility and skills development must be supported.

The column can be read at JP Finanshere.

The full text is freely available on CEFAU's website here.

Op-Ed: Uncertainty is the Biggest Trade Barrier not Tariffs

Tine Jeppesen — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:54:50 +0100

Tariffs and threats of tariff increases most recently in connection with the Greenland crisis have featured prominently in the public debate. However, economic research shows that trade barriers are far more complex than tariffs alone. They include everything from regulatory differences, technical standards, legislative and subsidybased discrimination, quotas, and cultural and linguistic differences and, increasingly, political and commercial uncertainty.

The current uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariff rates functions as an invisible trade barrier and may cost Danish firms access to the American market.

This is the topic of an oped in Finans written by CEFAU Centre Director Professor Phillip Schröder and Senior Analyst Tine Jeppesen. They point out, among other things, that there is significant potential for increased trade both within and beyond Europe if policymakers work to dismantle barriers. They further argue in favour of export promotion initiatives such as export credit guarantees, which can support Danish exporters in a world where uncertainty has become the norm.

Op-Ed: Will 2026 be a Good Season for European Industrial Policy?

Tine Jeppesen — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 12:38:11 +0100

Geopolitics, security, supply chain crises, and a more unpredictable global market have already made it clear that Europe cannot continue with a passive belief that markets alone will solve everything.
With this in mind, CEFAU center directors Professor Phillip Schröder and Professor Michael Svarer have written an op-ed in Finans, arguing that in 2026, Europe faces a real choice between two very different models of economic integration and industrial policy. One will be costly for Danish businesses and taxpayers. The other opens new opportunities for both Danish and European companies.
The choice is between the old industrial policy of the 1970s which would stifle the market dynamics that have driven Denmark's innovation and productivity growth, and a modern industrial policy that strengthens the internal market and supports European growth and integration.

Op-ed: Differentiated VAT is a really, really bad idea

Marie Møller Kjeldsen — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 11:29:57 +0200

Several political parties have proposed introducing differentiated VAT with a lower rate on food items. Considerations for low-income groups struggling to make ends meet, a desire to promote public health, and rising food prices have been cited as reasons for lowering VAT on certain foods.

However, regardless of the problem one wishes to solve, there are better solutions than changing VAT. Altering VAT would be an unnecessarily expensive way to achieve the intended goals. And the unnecessary additional cost of solving these issues through VAT would have to be paid by citizens through higher taxes, reduced public services, or lower social benefits.

On Friday 17 October 2025, Politiken published an op-ed by, among others, Senior Analyst Marie Møller Kjeldsen and Centre Director Michael Svarer arguing for the preservation of a uniform VAT rate and proposing alternative (and more cost-effective) solutions to the challenges that differentiated VAT has been suggested to address.