In my PhD thesis, I examine the interplay between people’s work–family life courses from age 18 to 45 and the characteristics of social policies in different institutional contexts in shaping health outcomes later in life. I approach this from the perspective of cumulative (dis)advantage, focusing on how disadvantages across life domains interrelate and accumulate over time to produce health inequalities, and how social policies can intervene at various points along the life course to disrupt this negative accumulation.

My thesis is part of the Sustainable Synergies programme, which explores how welfare systems can be developed to support a sustainable working life for all.

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• How Have the Nordic Welfare States Responded to the Unexpected Increase in Inflation?

  2024. Bent Greve (et al.). Social Policy and Society 23 (1), 176-188

  Article

  Rising inflation in the Nordic societies has changed the living standards for many families. The situation differs not only between the four Nordic countries analysed, but even within each of the Nordic countries. The needs for intervention have varied. Several elements have been used to determine who is facing the most risks. This article shows how to combine automatic stabilisers with temporary policy interventions to deal with increased inflation in general or specific sub-elements (such as oil, natural gas). Focus is on the degree of and criteria for targeting. Possible distributional consequences of the adopted measures will be discussed. Lastly, the article considers whether the observed responses to the crisis have implications for the understanding of the Nordic welfare state model. The article investigates institutional, political and economic reasons for the variations in the interventions. The article concludes that in managing the crisis, the Nordic countries have adopted stronger targeting towards those considered to be in need, displaying some innovations in their social policy approach. Yet, one can trace a high degree of path-dependency, with the countries adhering to universalist principles, with an aim of redistributing resources.

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• Early childhood education and care (ECEC): A focused review of reform impact studies

  2022. Rense Nieuwenhuis (et al.).

  Report

  The European Pillar Action Plan highlighted the importance of childcare as an important element to increase women’s employment rates. Childcare is also a headline target of the European Pillar of Social Rights, and central to the Gender Equality Strategy. Against this background, we provide a focused literature review to inform the preparation of a proposal for a Council Recommendation on early childhood education and care (ECEC) provision, including a revision of the Barcelona targets on childcare. Specifically, the focused literature review should contribute to answering two questions: y Which aspects of childcare policy reform affect parents’ decision to use childcare (i.e., participation rates of children)? y Which aspects of childcare policy reform affect labour market participation for mothers as well as gender equality in general? The aim of the focused literature review is to provide an evidence base directly relevant to policy makers regarding the revision of the Barcelona targets. To that end, the emphasis in the literature review is on formal childcare (i.e., paid, non-parental care typically outside the parental home) and specifically on childcare policy reforms (i.e., changes to childcare policy rules relating to various aspects of policy design, such as childcare accessibility (including eligibility conditions), affordability (including out-of-pocket expenses and mode of financing), and quality (mostly focusing on structural quality, such as staff educational requirements or restrictions on group sizes). The review is focused explicitly on reforms related to the outcomes of interest to the European Commission: children’s participation rates, mothers’ employment, working hours, and earnings. This report is structured as follows. First, we provide a theoretical background based on the (comparative) literature on ECEC in relation to its use and outcomes relevant to maternal employment and gender equality. This background covers literature outside the scope of the focused literature review itself, to provide a broader context to interpret – and organise – the results. Next, the methodology will be introduced. A third section presents the results of the focused literature review, focusing consecutively on (aspects of) reforms that affected ECEC use, maternal employment rates, working hours, and finally earnings. The review concludes with an overview of key findings, and a number of broader reflections.

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Show all publications by Jakob Strigén at Stockholm University