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  • Reports

25/11/2005

Finland
VNK
Lisbon Strategy - Growth and Jobs

The Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs - The Finnish National Reform Programme 2005-2008
The Finnish National Reform Programme identifies 11 priorities. The main macro-economic objective is economic stability and the sustainability of public finances. Key measures in this area are those related to preparing for population ageing, including implementation of the pensionreform that was launched in 2005. The two other macro-economic priorities are to curb public expenditure and to secure welfare services and increase public sector productivity.

  • Advisory Reports

04/02/2005

Finland
VNK
Social Policies

Finland for people of all agesGovernment report on the future: demographic trends, population policy, and preparation for changes in the age structure
This publication contains i) Finnish Government's report on the future, ii) a summary of the background work published in annexed reports, iii) abstracts of commissioned studies and iv) a description of the practice of issuing reports on the future in Finland.Changes in the age structure concern all age groups. "Ageing" will not only result in increased expenses but also, and more importantly, in a significant decrease in the number of working-age persons. The demographic changes will generate economic challenges, but they will also provide new opportunities. Safeguarding the well-being of people requires that the policies are both economically and socially sustainable for all generations. The report lays out a common perspective for all administrative sectors on preparing for the changes in the age structure. It aims at increasing the coherence of the Government's ageing policies by placing particular emphasis on seven policy areas. 1.Current demographic developments require modern population policy. The report discusses both ways to safeguard birth rate and to increase immigration. 2.The expected increase in the demand for services by elderly persons requires that greater emphasis be placed on promoting persons' functional capacity and health in different age groups. 3. Investments in children's and young persons' growth conditions and skills are needed. 4. Measures to increase both employment rate and productivity growth are also needed. 5. As it is impossible to precisely forecast demographic and economic developments, the report also stresses the need to reform social security. 6. From the viewpoint of regional demographic developments and safeguarding welfare services, it is essential to ensure the viability of municipal-level finances and to support cross-municipal cooperation and structural changes in service provision. 7.With its Report on the Future, the Government also wants to attract and encourage interest in measures to grasp the opportunities generated by changes in the age structure. As in the future, one person out of four will be aged 65 or more, it is prerequisite to support and utilise the resources and active participation of the ageing population.

  • Advisory Reports

12/01/2005

Finland
VNK
Economy and Finance

Finland's Competence, Opennessand Renewability -Summary of the 'Finland in the Global Economy' Report
Globalization refers to the integration of the world economy, mainly characterized by rapidgrowth in flows of trade, capital and technology between countries. Globalization also hasconsiderable cultural and political ramifications. The globalization report focuses on exploringhow Finnish production and work can succeed in circumstances that have changed and arecontinuing to change rapidly.

  • Advisory Reports

31/12/2004

Finland
VNK
Economy and Finance

Finland's competence, openness and renewabilityThe final report of the "Finland in the Global Economy" project
The report examines the challenges faced by Finland in the new phase of globalization and how these challenges should be met. The report outlines a strategy through which Finland can use the new opportunities afforded by globalization and combat the threats of tightening competition. The strategy is based on improving competence, on increasing openness in the economy and in society, and above all on renewal. The report focuses on proposals for strengthening the education and innovation systems. The functioning of the commodity and labour markets is also discussed, with proposals for improvement.

  • Studies

09/11/2004

Finland
VNK
Economy and Finance

Finland in a digital era:How do wealthy nations stay wealthy?
To clarify Finland's choices, the essay first situates the present Digital Era in historical perspective. It then considers the changing problem of Value Creation in a Digital and Global Era. The "global" and the "digital" constantly shift the levers of advantage. Company internal functions become products, products become commodities, and the sources of differentiation for products and process are constantly evolving. Traditional tools of strategy and policy analysis will not suffice. The analysis leads to the roles of experimentation in corporate and national adaptation. Companies will have to look at their initiatives as experiments, attempts to find their way through a maze of uncertainty. Company responses must be considered experiments in the face of quite fundamental uncertainty. Each effort and each effort of a competitor must be culled and systematically assessed for lessons in an ever-evolving competition. Governments must consider what it will require an Experimental Economy, an environment for firms alone and in networks or clusters to experiment effectively. Finally the paper considers the implications of the emerging digital era for Finland. Finland's traditional strengths may not be enough. For Finland to sustain its growth, innovative globally competitive firms must emerge from outside the forest products and telecom sectors. But there are not going to be any silver bullets.

  • Studies

09/11/2004

Finland
VNK
Economy and Finance

The challenge of globalizationfor Finland and its regions:The new economic geography perspective
The barriers to the international mobility of goods, factors and ideas have been steadily falling. This is fostering the creation of a global market for goods, factors and ideas. The central questions addressed in this paper are whether and how these globalization phenomena can be expected to change the geographical distribution of economic activities in the case of Finland.The foregoing questions are tackled from the specific point of view of "new economic geography", an approach to economic geography firmly grounded on recent developments in mainstream industrial organization and international trade theory. The theoretical predictions of new economic geography are critically assessed in the case of Finland by investigating the forces that have driven regional economic performance during the last decades.

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