Welfare
Historical and comparative studies are central in welfare state research at the Institute for Social Research.
How welfare policies develop and change, and the outcomes of such policies, are important topics for research. In welfare state research at the Institute for Social Research, both historical and comparative studies are central: we analyse how individual schemes have changed over time and how Norwegian schemes perform compared to similar schemes in other countries.
Welfare researchers at the institute also study popular support for the welfare system and how this can change in light of, for instance, high immigration or rising unemployment.
A third overarching topic is how welfare systems work. Do they protect citizens from inequality and poverty and do they help to maintain high employment rates?
In 2016, the Institute for Social Research was granted funding from the Research Council of Norway to continue its work as a national core research centre on social security. Opinion formation, sickness absence and migration are among the priority topics.
Projects
- 1+1 project
- Between Income Maintenance and Activation: the legitimacy, implementation and outcomes of social security policies (TREfF-2)
- Conditions and impacts of welfare mix. Comparative analysis of policy making,public discourse and service quality
- Education to work transitions: the role of work capacity, skills and health
- Evaluation of reduced payment schemes for kindergartens
- Gender Segregation in the Labour Market
- Governing and Experiencing Citizenship in Multicultural Scandinavia
- Health communication regimes (HeCoRe)
- Immigration and Support for the Welfare State: Local and Institutional Responses
- Mandatory activation for welfare recipients below age 30
- Municipal housing measures for children and youth
- Populism, Inequality and Institutions
- Refugee Employment and Welfare Dependence
- Shared residence: Children’s perspectives and new evidence
- The Social Impact of Housing
- Understanding the gender gap in sickness absence
- Work-family balance and Norway’s fertility decline
Researchers
