The present paper evaluates the quantitative impact of a pharmaceutical reform on pharmaceutical prices. A generic substitution policy was introduced in Finland in 2003 to contain rising pharmaceutical expenditure. After the reform pharmacists were obliged to propose a cheaper alternative to a...

In this paper we apply a stochastic frontier approach to examine how matching efficiency and regional differences in structural factors contribute to regional and aggregate unemployment. Our results suggest that there would be a substantial decline in aggregate unemployment if (i) all local...

The literature evaluating active labour market programmes concentrates on the subsequent labour market performance of the unemployed work force that has undergone training or has spent a certain period in a subsidised job. The effects of programmes on firms have rarely been evaluated. Here we...

The present paper examines whether subsidised jobs have contributed to the employment in subsidised firms or merely substituted for non-subsidised ones. The data set is an unbalanced panel of some 31,000 firms that are followed annually between 1995 and 2002. The analysis is based on...

This paper investigates the effects of business subsidies on the employment of firms in Finland, and explores possible regional differences in the effects. Employment of some 26,000 firms is followed annually between 1995-1998. We find that labour subsidies increase the firms' own employment...

This study demonstrates that a stochastic frontier approach applied to regional level data offers a convenient and interesting method to examine how regional differences in matching efficiency and structural factors contribute to aggregate unemployment. The study reveals notable and temporally...

This paper analyses regional labour market adjustment in the Finnish provinces during 1976-2000. It investigates the inter-relations of employment, unemployment, labour force participation and migration to see how a change in region-specific and total labour demand is adjusted. The analysis...

This paper investigates the evolution of regional disparities in Finland between 1988 and 1997. The analysis focuses on per capita GDP and its subcomponents, particularly labour productivity, jobs and population. The results show, first, that the evolution of labour productivity and the number...