The power of the economic outlook : An ideational explanation of the distinct pattern of Finnish wage setting within the Nordic context
Kaitila, J., Sorsa, V.-P., & Alaja, A. (2022). The power of the economic outlook : An ideational explanation of the distinct pattern of Finnish wage setting within the Nordic context. European Journal of Industrial Relations, OnlineFirst. https://doi.org/10.1177/09596801221093059
Published in
European Journal of Industrial RelationsDate
2022Copyright
© 2022 the Authors
Industrial relations scholars are paying increasing attention to the role of ideas in explaining shifts in bargaining systems and wage policies. This article contributes to this growing body of literature by conducting a meso-level analysis of the uses and impacts of ideas in wage regulation policy processes in coordinated market economies. Through our in-depth case study of the Finnish policy process leading to the Competitiveness Pact of 2016, we argue that certain ideas – which we call the ‘economic outlook’ – prescribed and legitimized exhausting institutional resources in wage regulation and enabled temporary consensus among divergent interests regarding wage policy. The economic outlook linked and enabled compromises between wage policy and wage regulation interests and effectively solidified a commitment to an uncertain policy process. The case study suggests that an ideational analysis of policy processes can offer explanations for shifts in wage policy and regulation that deviate from macro-level regime shifts. While all Nordic countries have faced similar economic and institutional reform pressures, Finland’s readoption of centralized bargaining shows that national policy ideas can drive distinct industrial relations patterns within the Nordic context.
...


Publisher
SAGE PublicationsISSN Search the Publication Forum
0959-6801Keywords
Publication in research information system
https://converis.jyu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/144262254
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
Additional information about funding
This work was supported by the Suomen Kulttuurirahasto and Emil Aaltosen Säätiö (190279 P).License
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
Essays on current account imbalances
Nieminen, Mika (University of Jyväskylä, 2017)Global current account imbalances and intra-euro area imbalances have been at the forefront of academic and policy debates for the last ten years. This thesis examines the determinants of current account balances and ... -
Road to unity? : Nordic economic convergence in the long run
Bruno, Lars; Eloranta, Jari; Ojala, Jari; Pehkonen, Jaakko (Routledge, 2022)This study examines Nordic economic convergence from the sixteenth to twentieth century respective of the economic leaders, in effect the UK before 1914 and USA thereafter. The paper uses a novel approach of combining the ... -
Immigrant integration and policy framework : an analysis on the impact of integration policies of immigrants within Finland and their economic influence within the welfare state
Mwacharo, Salome Safo (2018)The purpose of this thesis is to find out how the implementation of immigrant integration policies have affected immigrants and whether in turn, this has had an effect within the Finnish economic sector. This paper ... -
Outsourcing within the Nordic context : Care services for older people in Finland
Mathew Puthenparambil, Jiby (Taylor & Francis, 2018)The early 1990s economic setback brought significant reforms favoring the outsourcing of care in Finnish municipalities. Here, outsourcing refers to the practice of municipalities employing private organizations through ... -
Marketisation of care within the Nordic context: Private care provision for older people in Finland
Mathew Puthenparambil, Jiby (2019)This dissertation focuses on the ongoing development in the use of private so- cial care services for older people in Finland by asking the following questions at two levels. (1) At the municipality level, to what extent ...