Anker Jørgensen Socialdemokraterne — crisis Keynesianism and 'kartoffelkur' prelude

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Post-oil-shock Danish Social-Democratic crisis governance, running persistent balance-of-payments and budget deficits while attempting repeated incomes-policy packages. School: traditional Nordic social- democratic demand-management and wage-bargaining corporatism, under escalating strain as stagflation (the "krakkeriet" / collapse) exposed the limits of devaluation-plus-deficit. Left-right axis: centre-left / social-democratic; wide distance from concurrent Thatcher/Reagan turn. Core policy content: (i) krone devaluations within the European "snake" / ERM (1976-1979 series totalling ~25%); (ii) 1977 "august package" wage-price controls; (iii) 1979 "September forlig" fiscal package; (iv) compulsory pension contributions via ATP; (v) introduction of bikort/hovedkort income-tax source-withhold system matured; (vi) mounting current-account deficit peaking ~4% of GDP in 1979. Heinesen's televised 1979 warning — "we are on a course toward the economic abyss" — became the rhetorical marker of the era's exhaustion. Jørgensen resigned September 1982 rather than impose further austerity demanded by coalition partners, opening door to the Schlüter "kartoffelkur" (potato cure) package. Popularity signals: 1975 election S 29.9%; 1977 37.0%; 1979 38.3%; 1981 32.9%; 1984 (opposition) 31.6%. Coherence: low — repeated devaluation-incomes-policy rounds could not stabilise external balance; the government's inability to act on its own diagnosis is a textbook case of failed social-democratic crisis management.