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AbstractActive labour market policies (ALMP) are important tools that welfare states utilize to influence the labour market. This study analyses the macroeconomic effects of different types of ALMP spending on aggregate unemployment rates, and especially if there is evidence of interdependencies between policies. The types of policies scrutinized are public employment services (PES), training programs, public job creation and subsidized employment, where the PES is singled out as a crucial factor that moderates the effects of other types of labour market programs. The study examines 19 welfare states between 1985 and 2013, using error correction modelling to separate between short‐ and long‐term effects. The results indicate that PES, training and subsidized employment reduce unemployment in the short‐run, whereas PES and wage subsidies are associated with reduced unemployment when considering long‐term effects. However, PES is found to have indirect effects on other policy types and increased spending on PES is shown to reinforce long‐term effects of training programs.

This study drew on recurrent debates related to labour market mobility among the unemployed and those outside the labour force and asked to what extent active labour market policies (ALMP) increase employment in these two groups. By utilising new programme‐level data on ALMP, the study analysed the impact of core programmes directed towards registered unemployed; peripheral programmes that target the inactive part of the working age population; and mixed programmes targeting both groups. The programme data were combined with individual‐level panel data from the European Survey on Income and Living Conditions and analysed using multilevel analysis. The main results show that both resources devoted to programmes and their size were related to employment transitions. Transitions among the unemployed were mainly associated with spending on core programmes, whereas the inactive seemed to benefit from increased spending on all types of programmes, as well as increased scope of mixed programmes.

This thesis includes three empirical studies that analyse driving forces and outcomes of active labour market policies (ALMP) in comparative perspective. Whereas previous comparative research has largely relied on broad conceptualisations of ALMP, often considering policies such as public employment services and training programs as one single type of intervention, the studies in this thesis instead analyse more fine-grained categories and classifications of ALMP. By doing so, the studies contribute with nuance to the discussion of what has shaped labour market policies, and how these influence labour market outcomes. Study I: This study focuses on determinants of spending on public employment services (PES). Contrary to common assumptions, which state that PES is largely determined by structural factors, the main hypothesis is that partisan politics is a relevant predictor of PES spending. The analysis includes 17 welfare states between 1985 and 2011. The results indicate that partisan politics and electoral competition are related to the development of PES spending, but that the turn to activation in many welfare states in the late 1990s reduced the salience of partisan politics. Study II: This study analyses whether different types of active labour market policies are related to reduced unemployment, and especially if there is evidence for interdependencies between policies. The study distinguishes between public employment services (PES), training, and job creation programs. PES is singled out as a crucial factor that mediates the effects of other labour market policies, both active and passive. The study examines 19 welfare states between 1985 and 2012 and the results indicate that training programs reduce unemployment in the short run, whereas long-term effects are less apparent for all policy types. Increased investment in PES is found to strengthen the impact of training and job creation programs. Study III: This study examines the link between active labour market policies and transitions to employment from unemployment and inactivity across the European Union between 2003 and 2013. The study distinguishes between three types of interventions: core programs, directed towards the registered unemployed; peripheral programs, targeting the inactive part of the working age population; and mixed programs, targeting both groups. The results indicate that ALMP have beneficial effects on employment transitions among both the unemployed and the inactive, but that effects differ depending on the type of intervention. Unemployed seem to benefit from increased efforts on ALMP regardless of the type of intervention, whereas the inactive seem to have increased chances to transition into employment if programs target both groups, but not if interventions solely target the inactive. ; At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript.

This study drew on recurrent debates related to labour market mobility among the unemployed and those outside the labour force and asked to what extent active labour market policies (ALMP) increase employment in these two groups. By utilising new programme-level data on ALMP, the study analysed the impact of core programmes directed towards registered unemployed; peripheral programmes that target the inactive part of the working age population; and mixed programmes targeting both groups. The programme data were combined with individual-level panel data from the European Survey on Income and Living Conditions and analysed using multilevel analysis. The main results show that both resources devoted to programmes and their size were related to employment transitions. Transitions among the unemployed were mainly associated with spending on core programmes, whereas the inactive seemed to benefit from increased spending on all types of programmes, as well as increased scope of mixed programmes.

The recent years have seen a process of regionalisation in Swedish culture and arts policy. This change goes under the name Kultursamverkansmodellen, which on the government's webpage translates to "the cultural cooperation model" (Government Offices of Sweden 2015). The way samverkan is used in daily talk it should rather translate to collaboration – discussions, exchange of ideas and mutually beneficial activities. However, my material suggests elements of hierarchy in the system of cultural policy and funding where the term samverkan seem to signify a logic of consensus, in effect making it hard for cultural actors to challenge a system where certain music and art forms hold a hegemonic position. Drawing on Michel De Certeau's concept of tactics and strategy (1984) and Ruth Finnegan's pathways (Finnegan 1989), this paper uses a discourse logics approach (Glynos and Howarth 2007) to disseminate the term samverkan in multiple musicking contexts: in policy, by musicians, regional government officials and concert organisers, as well as in connection with other nodes such as "quality" and "projects". The paper is part of the author's on-going PhD project, which aims to shed light on how conditions for music making are constructed, protected and challenged by studying the intersection between governing and musical processes.

The Social Policy Indicators (SPIN) database provides the foundations for new comparative and longitudinal research on the causes behind, and the consequences of, welfare states and social citizenship rights. The SPIN database is oriented towards analyses of institutions as manifested in social policy legislation. To date, SPIN covers 40 countries, of which several have data on core social policy programmes from 1930. There are currently six data modules in SPIN, covering different social policy areas. The following research note describes the theoretical and conceptual basis of the SPIN project, as well as the data it contains.

The Social Policy Indicators (SPIN) database provides the foundations for new comparative and longitudinal research on the causes behind, and the consequences of, welfare states and social citizenship rights. The SPIN database is oriented towards analyses of institutions as manifested in social policy legislation. To date, SPIN covers 40 countries, of which several have data on core social policy programmes from 1930. There are currently six data modules in SPIN, covering different social policy areas. The following research note describes the theoretical and conceptual basis of the SPIN project, as well as the data it contains.