Walks the walk, but doesn't talk the talk: Finnish exceptionalism from the Nordic perspective

Abstract

<p>In the “Nordic welfare state model”, there are common cornerstones, but their size and position are not the same in all five countries. Despite differences in the political economy of the welfare state and the timing of implementing social protection, the Finnish variant fulfills the criteria of the Nordic welfare state. Similar results can be achieved through multiple approaches. Each of the Nordic countries is similar in its own way, especially Finland. Also, despite there not being much discussion about social investments as an instrument to achieve investment goals, the results show that Finland complies very well with the core ideas of the social investment paradigm. Hence, it seems that the logic of social investment has become institutionalized in Finnish social policymaking without much social investment rhetoric. The Finns do not talk the talk, but they walk the walk!<br></p>