Áhrif fjármálakreppunnar á lífskjör Evrópuþjóða
Bókin "Welfare and the Great Recession": A Comparative Study, í ritstjórn Stefáns Ólafssonar, Mary Daly, Olli Kangas og Joakim Palme, hefur verið gefin út hjá Oxford University Press. Bókin fjallar um áhrif fjármálakreppunnar á lífskjör 30 Evrópuþjóða. Sýnt er hvernig fjárhagslegar þrengingar heimila breyttust í kjölfar kreppunnar og greint ítarlega hvernig velferðarkerfi þjóðanna og viðbrögð stjórnvalda urðu til að mild eða magna afleiðingar kreppunnar fyrir almenning. Verkefnið var unnið við EDDU rannsóknasetur við Háskóla Íslands undir stjórn Stefáns Ólafssonar, prófessors í félagsfræði. Með honum unnu að verkefninu Agnar Freyr Helgason stjórnmálahagfræðingur við HÍ og Kolbeinn H. Stefánsson félagsfræðingur á Hagstofu Íslands. Verkefnið var fjármagnað af Norrænu ráðherranefndinni og stóð frá 2014 til 2019.
Eftirfarandi er lýsing útgefanda á bókinni:
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 importance of the welfare state and government policies in sheltering populations from serious economic contraction.The first comprehensive study of the Great Recession in Europe that focuses on household level welfare consequences, this edited volume relates financial hardship to institutional characteristics, such as welfare regimes, currency regimes, socio-political patterns, affluence levels, public debt, and policy reactions to periods of crisis. It takes into account stimulus versus austerity, the degree of social protection emphasis, the commitment to redistribution, and the significance of activism. Widely comparative, Welfare and the Great Recession;combines comparisons of thirty countries with an in-depth study of nine country cases to offer various lessons from the crisis experience in Europe and reflect on welfare futures in a globalized crisis-prone environment.
Bókin hefur hlotið lofsamleg ummæli frá heimsþekktum sérfræðingum á þessu fræðasviði, eins og sjá má af eftirfarandi dæmum:
„The analyses developed in this book offer an important and original contribution to our understanding of the impact of the Great Recession on different social groups and households across Europe, and of the crucial role of political choices in shaping these differential outcomes. A must-read book for sociologists, economists, and policy makers.“ - Professor Chiara Saraceno, Honorary Fellow, Collegio Carlo Alberto and University of Turin, Italy.
„This excellent volume, edited by four renowned scholars, assesses countries throughout Europe, spanning cases with diverse welfare state models and recessions that struck with varied force. It tells a clear but complex story, concluding that welfare state features and specific policy responses were crucial in shaping the recession's effects on millions of European households.“ - Janet C. Gornick, Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Graduate Centre, City University of New York; Director of Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, USA.
„In this impressive volume world-leading analysts of social policy and social inequality show that the effects of the 2007-2015 recession were very unevenly distributed, such that some "boats" sank much deeper and stayed down longer than others. Some governments made choices that enabled a quick recovery, while others made choices that prolonged the misery. Even more strikingly, the distribution of that economic misery depended strongly on social policies and political institutions. This persuasive, lively book will become an important touchstone in the comparative analysis of recession effects on inequality and foreshadows political responses to the next." - Jason Beckfield, Professor of Sociology, Harvard University, USA.
„This important book traces the varying extent to which European welfare states were able to cushion vulnerable groups from the impact of the Great Recession, effectively demonstrating that comprehensive, well-funded and efficient welfare states can really work. Its in-depth, painstaking analysis of country case-studies highlights how choices made by governments are key, even where highly constrained, and brings out the multiple challenges facing the welfare state as a political project. Essential reading." - Brian Nolan, Professor of Social Policy, University of Oxford, UK.
Hér er vefsíða bókarinnar hjá OUP þar sem sjá má efnisyfirlit og frekari upplýsingar.
