Adam Jezard — Finland thinks it has designed the perfect school. This is what it looks like.

The walls are coming down in Finland’s schools – but not just the physical barriers between classrooms. Also going are divisions between subjects and age ranges, and students have more of a say over what will be learnt than children in many other countries.

According to CityLab, an architecture website, the country is undergoing an ambitious national redesign of its 4,800 schools. Some 57 new schools began construction in 2015 and 44 in 2016. Others are being refurbished using open-plan principles...

Education for life rather than a job.

Proponents of PBL [phenomenon-based teaching and learning] say it helps to equip students with the critical thinking skills they need to flourish today. Kirsti Lonka, a professor of educational psychology at Helsinki University, told the BBC: “When it comes to real life, our brain is not sliced into disciplines ... we are thinking in a very holistic way. And when you think about the problems in the world – global crises, migration, the economy, the post-truth era – we really haven’t given our children the tools to deal with this inter-cultural world.”...

World Economic Forum
Finland thinks it has designed the perfect school. This is what it looks like.

Adam Jezard | Senior Writer at Formative Content.

Kate McFarland — FINLAND: First Basic Income payments sent to experiment participants

Finland's basic income experiment is now underway, with the first payments having been mailed this week. With the experiment generating much media attention, here is a review of some of the basics.

On January 1, 2017, Finland launched an experiment in which 2,000 individuals–randomly selected from a pool of unemployment benefit recipients–will receive unconditional cash payments of €560 (about 590 USD) per month for two years.

The first payments were sent out on Monday, January 9. 

The main goal of the experiment, as it presently stands, is to determine whether unconditional cash transfers are more effective than means-tested unemployment benefits with respect to promoting job-seeking and employment. Olli Kangas, leader of the research team at Kela that designed the experiment, has recommended expanding the experiment to other target populations (including “other persons with small incomes” and individuals under age 25)....

Bien
FINLAND: First Basic Income payments sent to experiment participants
Kate McFarland, former professional student at the Ohio State University (PhD Philosophy 2015, MS Statistics 2009, BS Mathematics 2006) and philosophy instructor, now a member of BIEN's Executive Committee as well as Secretary of BIEN's US affiliate (USBIG).

Bill Mitchell — Finland’s problem is exactly the euro!

I have noticed a creeping trend in the European press over the last 18 months or so claiming that Finland’s economic malaise, which continues to deteriorate, is nothing to do with the euro. The latest effort in this campaign of denial suggests that the real problem is the “the Finnish welfare state and society”. My view is as follows and it couldn’t be any clearer – whatever structural problems there are in the Finnish economy (following the decline of Nokia and the impending decline of its paper industry due to changing patterns with respect to newspaper consumption), Finland’s decline into the status of a Eurozone basket case along with Greece is all down to the euro and the ridiculous fiscal rules that prevent its government from countering a sharp decline in both the export revenue and private capital formation. Without the limitations imposed by euro membership, Finland would be in a position to stimulate its own economy just as it did during the bleak years of its recession in the early 1990s. Certainly, it would not be a sufficient condition just to exit the euro zone. The neo-liberal infestation that interprets the fiscal rules in the harshest manner (that is, denying even the minimal flexibility that is possible within the Stability and Growth Pact) an additional layer of the problem. But if Finland was to restore its own currency then at the political level the neo-liberal politicians would not be able to shift blame onto the Eurozone rules when they deliberately pushed up unemployment through unnecessary fiscal cuts. Then it would be more obvious that the political leadership was responsible which would bring the destructive neo-liberal tendencies into relief.…

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Finland’s problem is exactly the euro!
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Bill Mitchell — The Job Guarantee and contributory unemployment benefits systems

The unemployment rate in Finland is climbing steadily and in October 2015 was 9.6 per cent (seasonally adjusted) and the employment to population ratio stood at 60.1 per cent and was trending down. Finland is fast becoming the next basket case of the Eurozone. What was once a highly supportive society is steadily being turned into a austerity-ridden backwater. The latest news, however, that the Finnish government is due to debate a proposal to provide every citizen with a basic income of €800 a month has excited the progressives – unfortunately. The proposal currently being prepared by the national agency that administers the Finnish welfare system (KELA) would offer this basic allowance in lieu of all other existing benefit payments. It would be paid regardless of whether the person received income from any other source. I have been considering the Finnish welfare system over the last month or so since my visit there in October. This is in relation to a series of queries I had from activists there who were keen on the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Job Guarantee proposal but were wondering how it would situate itself within the existing system of unemployment benefits in Finland. This blog captures my thoughts on both of those topics.…

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
The Job Guarantee and contributory unemployment benefits systems
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Bloomberg — Finns Told Pay Cuts Only Way to Rescue Economy From Failure

Ain't neoliberalism great?

One of Germany’s staunchest allies in backing euro-zone austerity is about to feel some of the pain the policy brings with it.

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila will this month battle unions to reduce the cost of labor. Without the measure, he says Finland will need a 1.5 billion euro ($1.6 billion) austerity package to meet budget goals.

“Reducing labor costs is the first big challenge on the path of Finnish economic revival,” Aktia chief economist Anssi Rantala said in an interview.… 

Bloomberg
Finns Told Pay Cuts Only Way to Rescue Economy From Failure

Raine Tiessalo

Randy Wray — MMT and Full Employment: Conference in Finland

Randy reports on his trip to Finland

Economonitor | Great Leap Forward
MMT and Full Employment: Conference in Finland
L. Randall Wray