How institutional environments and policies impacted hardship

This chapter, by Ólafsson, Helgason, and Stefánsson, assesses the overall effects of the institutional environment, societal conditions, and policy reactions on welfare outcomes, along with the direct effects of the economic contraction. They do this by undertaking a statistical analysis of similarities between various background factors and financial hardship experiences in 30 European countries. The analyses demonstrate the importance of welfare state structures and varying policy priorities on the differential welfare outcomes of the population in these countries. Even though the depth of the crisis had a pivotal role in shaping welfare outcomes, the authors find independent welfare state structures and policy priorities had significant effects on the financial hardship consequences of the Great Recession.