Welfare Consequences of Financial Crises

The project will consist of inter-Nordic research work into welfare consequences of the financial crises of the 1990s and the present crisis. The aim is to assess and compare multi-dimensional consequences of these crises for the living conditions of the populations, policy environments and effectiveness of policy reactions. Particular emphasis will be on Finland, Sweden and Faeroe Islands of the 1990s and Iceland in the present crisis. The milder crisis versions in Norway and Denmark will also be assessed, including an assessment of why they were better sheltered from crisis.

The work will be carried out by pre-selected academics, one from each of the Nordic countries and in addition collaboration will be sought from 2-4 internationally known specialists. Professor Stefán Ólafsson will lead the project.

The work will consist of building up of a coordinated data bank on comparable information on all relevant aspects of welfare consequences and policies' timelines, characteristics and extents. Workshops will be organized with participants and invited specialists and publications will be both directed at refereed academic journals and at the general public and policy makers.

Amongst cooperating specialists from the Nordic countries are Olli Kangas at Kela in Finland and Joakim Palme professor of political science at Uppsala.

There will also be a cooperation with specialists from Britain, Ireland and the Baltic countries. Agnar Freyr Helgason works on the project and other specialists work on specific tasks. 

• Known and unknown  risks – future challenges for local social services: Report for the Nordic Council of Ministers (2017)
  Guðný Björk Eydal, Rasmus Dahlberg, Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir, Carin Björngren Cuadra, Björn Hvinden, Merja Rapeli and Tapio Salonen
• Welfare and Nordic Crisis Management Strategies - a comparative project
  The report consists of four substantive chapters, drawn from the forthcoming book, Welfare and Nordic Crisis Management Strategies,edited by Stefán Ólafsson, Mary Daly, Olli Kangas, and Joakim Palme. Briefly, the report describes the major theories used to account for government policy responses during times of economic crises. It outlines the depth and duration of the Great Recession and how governments employed fiscal and social policy to combat the effects of the crisis on the economic wellbeing of the population. It also draws the attention to the effects of the crisis on individuals and households, and more. 
• An official website for the project Welfare consequences of financial crises
  The website includes information about the project, statistical information, reports and other interesting material related to the project.