This OECD review of Finland presents an overall picture, set within a macro-economic context, of regulatory achievements and challenges including regulatory quality, competition policy, and market openness.

In recent years, liberalization, privatization and deregulation have become commonplace in sectors once dominated by government-owned monopolies. In telecommunications, for example, during the 1990s, more than 129 countries established independent regulatory agencies and more than 100 countries privatized the state-owned telecom operator. Why did so many countries liberalize in such a short period of time? For example, why did both Denmark and Burundi, nations different along so many relevant dimensions, liberalize their telecom sectors around the same time? Kirsten L. Rodine-Hardy argues that international organizations – not national governments or market forces – are the primary drivers of policy convergence in the important arena of telecommunications regulation: they create and shape preferences for reform and provide forums for expert discussions and the emergence of policy standards. Yet she also shows that international convergence leaves room for substantial variation among countries, using both econometric analysis and controlled case comparisons of eight European countries.

Finland's reform efforts over the last 20 years have strengthened competition in many parts of the economy and fostered above-average growth. A key feature of reform has been the deregulation of important sectors of the economy, reversing a legacy of state control.However, the challenges posed by high unemployment and a rapidly aging population underline the need to spread reforms across all parts of Finnish society. Finland also needs to improve efficiency in its large public sector.The economy has also changed significantly, to complement the country's traditional strength in industrial goods and natural resources, an information and communications technology sector has flourished. RandD expenditure is now the second highest in the OECD, as a percentage of GDP. To build on those successes, further reforms are needed. The public sector remains large relative to other OECD countries, as do tax burdens. Although significant reforms of the public sector have already taken place, further steps are needed to promote greater efficiency. Finland has worked hard to improve its regulatory governance since the1980s, but stronger political drive for impact assessments of new laws and regulations, as well as supporting structures in the centre of government, would improve the efficiency and coherence of regulatory instruments.There is need for further reform, as Finland's population is aging more rapidly than it is in most OECD countries. The number of people over age 65 is projected to increase by more than 50% by 2020, and the labour force could start to decline within a decade. Rapid aging also underscores the need for labour market reforms. Although unemployment has halved since 1994, at 9% it is still above the EU average. Structural unemployment, especially long-term unemployment, remains a major problem. Centralized wage negotiations offer little incentive for improvement in sheltered sectors of the economy. Moreover, the regulatory regime does little to encourage unemployed individuals to return to work.

This report maps and analyses the core issues which together make up effective regulatory management for Finland, laying down a framework of what should be driving regulatory policy and reform in the future.

Nordic welfare states are known for a unique combination of equity and efficiency and for political institutions facilitating compromise and consensus between conflicting interests. The Nordic Welfare State in Three Eras: From Emancipation to Discipline analyses the historical and contemporary evolution of Nordic welfare states in Denmark, Sweden and Finland during three periods: the developmental period until the end of WWII, the period of emancipatory welfare institutions until the 1980s, and the period of restructuring from the 1980s until present times. The three eras discussed are shared in one way or another by all welfare states. However, Nordic welfare institutions are unique in the sense that they were particularly compatible with the ideas of Keynesian macro-economic management that constituted the blueprint of international economic ideas during the post-war period. This ground-breaking book will show how preceding emancipating elements of Nordic welfare states were largely lost in the process of renegotiating the post-war social order, and replaced by new elements of discipline and control.

Social science research provides not only abstract, conceptual knowledge about society but also concrete, instrumental knowledge. It enables us to take action to recompose the world we live in. However, this book rejects narrow and simplistic conceptions of research use and its impact on policy-making, to embrace a more complex approach to seeing and dealing with social science. In the paradigm of "evidence-based policy", "evidence" is understood in its broad sense as information that helps form policies. Nonetheless, within current practices and discourse, it is not clear what "information" is, what is really meant by "evidence", and how it can be obtained objectively. The book draws on papers presented at the International Forum on the Social Science-Policy Nexus, where experts examined current practices and problems in areas such as social policy, migration, urban policies and globalisation. The Forum set a precedent in terms of dialogue between researchers and policy-makers. The authors contribute to enriching and elucidating the most common conceptualisations of the research-policy nexus. They represent a rich diversity of views, although most agree that an effective strategy to enhance social science-policy linkages should be underpinned by a theoretical and methodological framework that takes into account the interplay of different social actors.