Gert Tingard Svendsen

“Trust – the Nordic X-Factor?”

Abstract:
Many people ask themselves what the real secret behind the Nordic countries is. Why are they both prosperous and among the world’s happiest nations—while institutions also function so well? That is precisely why some of the world’s leading social scientists are looking to the Nordics to understand what makes the difference—what the special X-factor might be. The answer may lie in an unexpected place: in the trust and relationships people have with one another. For the Nordic countries are, in fact, world champions in trust!

BIO:

Professor, PhD, at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University. His main research areas are trust, social capital, and climate policy. An example of his research dissemination is the book Trust (Johns Hopkins University Press), which received a positive review in Forbes Magazine by Keld Jensen and has also been translated into Chinese. In 2016, Svendsen was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog for his pioneering research on trust, and in 2025 he received one of the Ministry of Culture’s national awards for “The Trust Society” as intangible cultural heritage, which is now being nominated for inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Personal website: https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/persons/gts%40ps.au.dk

Link to Trust: https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/23066/trust

Link to review of Trust by Keld Jensen in Forbes:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/keldjensen/2014/06/22/trust-a-fragile-but-wealth-building-commodity/