1. Introduction - 2. Essay 1: Three major aproaches to the macroeconomics of the labour market - 3. Essay 2: The (ir) relevance of the nru for policy making: the case of denmark - 4. Essay 3: Capital acumulation and unemployment: New insights on the nordic experience - Essay 4: The nordic experience revisited: Explaining labou market booms and slumps since the 1980s.