Conceptual innovation and public policy: unemployment and paid leave schemes in Denmark

The Danish paid leave schemes of the early 1990s are an important innovatio n in labour market policy because they not only, directly reduce unemployme nt but also contribute to achieving other economic and social goals. In thi s article we investigate why they were brought into being by tracing their development to identify the salient causal influences on the crucial decisi ons from a historical point of view, then evaluate the extent to which cont emporary policy-making approaches can account for these results. Our analys is shows that a number of factors influenced the development of the schemes , including the rise in unemployment, public opinion, parties, institutions and policy learning. The role of conceptual innovation was especially impo rtant. Overall the policy-making process can be best understood in terms of John Kingdom's multiple streams theory.