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Skills and Expertise
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January 2007 - present
Publications
Publications (201)
The legitimacy of a pension system or any social security program depends on its credibility and perceived fairness. In order to gauge this legitimacy, we need to understand the relation between people's knowledge and attitudes. This experimental survey into the role of knowledge and perceptions divided respondents into two groups: the ‘treatment’...
The apparent decline of partisan effects on social policies since the 1980s has encouraged the development of theories that challenge the traditional partisan politics theory. Although the new politics approach pointed to institutional path‐dependence and to the unpopularity of radical retrenchment, recent research has highlighted shifts in elector...
Welfare and the Great Recession surveys and analyses welfare consequences in the period following the financial crisis in Europe. It investigates how the burdens of the recession were shared between countries, between different socio-economic groups across Europe, and within individual countries, and offers new evidence that demonstrates the import...
The goal of the Finnish experiment that started this year is to try to get some evidence on how a new social policy instrument mimicking a basic income would work and what kind of behavioural consequences it would have. At this point, there are many strong arguments being made both in favour of and opposed to basic income. Unfortunately, there are...
Pääministeri Juha Sipilän hallitusohjelmaan on kirjattu perustulokokeilun toteuttaminen. Perustulokokeilulla selvitetään, miten sosiaaliturvaa voitaisiin uudistaa paremmin vastaamaan työelämän muutoksia,
muuttaa sosiaaliturvaa työhön kannustavaksi, vähentää byrokratiaa ja yksinkertaistaa monimutkaista
etuusjärjestelmää, joka usein luo erilaisia tul...
In all countries, there are differences in health between socio-economic groups. In Finland those health differences are comparatively large. Why there is such wide cross-national variation in relative health differences between socio-economic groups remains an unanswered question. One brand of explanations links health outcomes to income inequalit...
Purpose
– In their income inequality theory (IIT), Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett posit that income inequality is at the heart of social “ills”. However, their critics argue that the hypothesis is biased and that “cherry picking” is used and support for the IIT is obtained by selecting a suitable sample of countries. The paper aims to discuss t...
Ahola, E., Tervola, J., Valaste, M., Kangas, O., Honkanen, P. & Hämäläinen, U. (2014) "Lapsilisät leikkuriin?" Kelan tutkimusosaston blogi (julk 4.4.2014). (http://blogi.kansanelakelaitos.fi/arkisto/1758)
Measurement of economic and non-monetary well-being of households has advanced
in recent years, following the ”beyond GDP” initiatives and increased availability
of cross-national data sources. This paper discusses measurement of household
wealth and its relation to income poverty and non-monetary deprivation in Finland,
using a survey micro data s...
A growing field of discursive institutionalism has argued for the importance of ideas and discourse in policy changes. The aim of the study is to analyse framing effects empirically by examining how, and to what extent, competing frames can shape public opinion on the implementation of a specific policy change. The case study focuses on the adminis...
A prime objective of welfare state activities is to take action to enhance population health and to decrease mortality risks. For several centuries, poverty has been seen as a key social risk factor in these respects. Consequently, the fight against poverty has historically been at the forefront of public health and social policy. The relationship...
Resumen
En este artículo se examina los distintos momentos elegidos para introducir cuatro grandes programas de seguridad social —el seguro de accidentes del trabajo, las prestaciones por enfermedad, las pensiones y las asignaciones familiares— en cuarenta y tres países africanos. Además, se analiza si la estructura legislativa, la religión dominan...
Résumé
Le présent article examine le délai selon lequel ont été introduits quatre grands programmes de sécurité sociale — assurance contre les accidents du travail, prestations de santé, pensions et allocations familiales — dans 43 pays d'Afrique. Il étudie également si le cadre législatif, la religion dominante ou le passé colonial du pays jouent...
Auszug
Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht den Zeitpunkt der Einführung von vier wichtigen Komponenten der sozialen Sicherheit — Arbeitsunfallversicherung, Krankengeld, Renten und Familienbeihilfen — in 43 afrikanischen Ländern. Er geht des Weiteren auf die Frage ein, ob die Gesetzgebungsstruktur, die vorherrschende Religion oder die koloniale Verga...
This article examines the timing of the introduction of four major social security programmes - work accident insurance, sickness benefits, pensions, and family allowances - in 43 African countries. Further, it explores whether legislative structure, dominant religion or the colonial past of the country is of importance when we control for year of...
Whether the Nordic countries have stemmed the international tide of inequality better, worse or merely different from other Western countries is the question addressed in this final chapter. Applying the results of the analysis in the previous chapters, this chapter prepares trends across different aspects of inequality and the Nordic welfare model...
The chapter examines the interaction between the labour market, employment and social security in different welfare state regimes. It looks at the extent to which we can find regime-based differences in labour markets, in the generosity of unemployment insurance or in the economic consequences of being employed, becoming unemployed for a shorter or...
This introductory chapter describes why and how the Nordic welfare model is interesting in the current era of reforming labour markets and social protection policies. The basic characteristics of the model are set out, with an emphasis on equality. This is followed by a discussion of the debated pressures on the equality aspect of the model that ar...
The Nordic countries have been able to raise living standards and curb inequalities without compromising economic growth. But with social inequalities on the rise how do they fare when compared to countries with alternative welfare models, such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany? Taking a comparative perspective, this book casts new...
Taking a comparative perspective, this book casts new light on the changing inequalities in Europe.
Taking a comparative perspective, this book casts new light on the changing inequalities in Europe.
Introduction: inequality on the rise?
Nordic mass media regularly announce the end of equality in the Nordic countries – is it a reality or merely another example of journalistic dramatisation and myth-building? In this book we aim to clarify in what ways equality has actually characterised the Nordic countries and to what extent we now find less e...
Finland's pension system consists of income-tested 'national pensions' and statutory employment-related pensions. The latter are 'hybrid' public-private pensions that were legislated in the 1960s and partly funded through private insurance companies, while employers and trade unions participate in their administration. There is a strong corporatist...
Studies of the informal care given by family, relatives and friends outside the framework of organized, paid, professional work often look at caring for specific population groups, such as children or elderly and disabled people. Fewer studies focus on informal care in its entirety so there is an overall tendency to overlook the combinations of inf...
Kangas O. One hundred years of money, welfare and death: mortality, economic growth and the development of the welfare state in 17 OECD countries 1900–2000
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: ••: ••–••© 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare.
The article focuses on the role played by...
320 s. Mikä on perhe? Miten sosiaaliturva määrittelee perheen? Saako avoleski eläkettä? Kuka perheeseen tuo rahat ja kuka päättää niiden käytöstä? Miten käy lasten ja lähivanhemman taloudelle, kun perhe hajoaa? Perhe on voimavara, mutta joskus tuo voimavara ehtyy, ja lastensuojelun on tultava apuun. Mitä tapahtuu huostaanotetuille lapsille ja heidä...
Julkaisussa: Hämäläinen U, Kangas O, toim. Perhepiirissä. Helsinki: Kela, 2010: 7–27.
Yhteiskuntapolitiikka 2010; 75 (5): 488–497.
Debates on welfare reforms have revolved around institutional inertias with the emphasis on institutions as structures. We argue that political discourses work in the same vein and create continuities constraining the array of possible policy options trap for womenfreedom to choose’ has been hegemonic. According to the Swedish frame, public day car...
The Nordic welfare states offer some lessons in a development context. A main achievement has been sustainable poverty reduction. Another important lesson is that, while democratization often leads to greater pressures for social policy expansion, social policy can also contribute to democratization. The Nordic countries further demonstrate that is...
Finland has traditionally been highly agrarian and poor, a nation at the ultimate northern edge of the world. The country, situated around the Arctic Circle, did not offer particularly lucrative opportunities for making an easy livelihood. Farmers, who until the 1960s formed the biggest socioeconomic group, had to fight a constant battle against na...
The 30th Conference of the International Working Party on Labour Market Segmentation – Social Policy as a Productive Factor. Tampere 3.–5.9.2009. Abstract.
Nettikolumni 15.5.2009. www.kela.fi/tutkimus.
Julkaisussa: Andreß H-J, Hummelsheim D, eds. When marriage ends: economic and social consequences of partnership dissolution. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2009: 98–131.
Many important social determinants of health are also the focus for social policies. Welfare states contribute to the resources available for their citizens through cash transfer programmes and subsidised services. Although all rich nations have welfare programmes, there are clear cross-national differences with respect to their design and generosi...
Rein zeitlich gesehen war Finnland auf dem Gebiet der Sozialpolitik ein Nachzügler — insbesondere bei den Sozialversicherungen
(Alber 1982; Alestalo/Flora/Uusitalo 1985). Doch diese Verspätung wurde durch extensive Reformen kompensiert und in Finnland entwickelte sich früher als in den meisten
anderen europäischen Ländern ein universales Modell soz...
Julkaisussa: Ervasti, Heikki et al., toim. Nordic social attitudes in a European perspective. Cheltenham: Edvard Elgar, 2008: 22–46.
Julkaisussa: Ervasti, Heikki et al., toim. Nordic social attitudes in a European perspective. Cheltenham: Edvard Elgar, 2008: 1–21.
Julkaisussa: Ervasti, Heikki et al., toim. Nordic social attitudes in a European perspective. Cheltenham: Edvard Elgar, 2008: 65–85.
Julkaisussa: Kvist J, Saari J, toim. The Europeanisation of social protection. Bristol: Policy Press, 2007: 153–173.
The Finnish attitude to the European Union (EU) and to Europeanisation is a mixture of a number of contradictory elements. Every political party has its own opinions of the EU, and the political colour of the cabinet has an impact on the government's official stances on the issue. The official opinion is formed in Parliament, where the Grand Commit...
This book challenges the common view that social protection is exclusively a national concern, with European Union (EU) social policy fragmented and merely symbolic. Through eleven country studies, it reveals that EU-level developments increasingly interact with social protection in all countries – a remarkable transformation from ten years ago. Us...
In her Work-Lifestyle Choices, Hakim argued that attitudinal factors like work-lifestyle preferences are more important than institutions or structures in explaining female employment. Our aim is to study whether we can substantiate Hakim's preference theory or whether we should lay more emphasis on institutional factors. We ask whether there are s...
In this paper three methods of relativizations are used: (1) we apply the conventional poverty approach: the poor are those whose income remains below 60 percent of the national equivalent disposable income, (2) we collapse nations together into one data pool and calculate a poverty line for the EU, and (3) we decompose nation states into smaller u...
Julkaisussa: Clasen J, Siegel N, toim. Investigating welfare state change: The dependent variable problem in comparative analysis. Cheltenham: Edwar Elgar, 2007: 106–129.
Institutional pension policy is held to be one of the trade marks of the celebrated Scandinavian model. Universal national pensions guarantee a decent livelihood to every citizen irrespective of socio-economic status. Income-related pensions that are paid on top of the national pensions secure the standard of living achieved during the working care...
This article discusses Chinese social policy development in response to the growth of the market economy. It provides a general overview of the system's evolution in three stages: (1) the pre-reform period when a system of enterprise welfare was in operation; (2) a period of system transition; (3) the stage when state welfare began to take shape. T...
Cotsialnaja politika: ekspertiza, rekommendatsia, obzoryi 2008; (8): 221.
Department of Social Policy, University of Turku, Publications A:18, 2006.
Julkaisussa: Hujo K, McClanahan S, eds. Financing social policy: mobilizing resources for social development. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2009: 246–263.
By analysing pension reforms in three Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland and Sweden that apply different institutional solutions in their old-age security programmes – the paper argues that the political processes that shaped the country-specific pension set-ups in the 1950s and 1960s had important ramifications for the subsequent possibilities to...
Julkaisussa: Kangas O, Palme J, toim. Social Policy and Economic Development in the Nordic Countries. Houndmills: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2005: 1–16.
We have in this book tried to explore the transformation of the Nordic countries in the twentieth century from a developmental perspective, with the focus on the role of social policy (cf. Mkandawire 2001). We have observed several reasons for why the emergence and transformation of the ‘Nordic model’ is of interest for the discussion of social pol...
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a historical and comparative framework for the discussion of contemporary social policy developments in the Nordic countries. Present reforms and policy trends illustrate dilemmas for social policy that are common to many countries, and some of the reforms can be seen as alternative strategies to deal with...
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries witnessed major transformations of economic systems around the world. The first was the creation of capitalist markets in the Western hemisphere. The second was the transition from capitalism to socialism in several countries. The third was the transition in the reverse direction: from centrally planned comman...
Welfare states contribute to people's well-being in many different ways. One way of bringing those contributions under a common metric is in terms of ‘temporal autonomy’: the freedom to spend one's time as one will, outside the necessities of daily life. Using the 1999–2000 Finnish Time Use Survey, we propose ways of operationalising the time that...
This article traces past and present trends in the institutional development of sickness daily allowance schemes in eighteen OECD countries. We are interested whether there still are—or if there ever have been—distinctive models in sickness benefits. The historical part of the study inspects the development of coverage and generosity benefits. Ther...
Luxembourg Income Study, Working Paper No. 384, 2004.
