Arbetsmarknadspolitik i Norden och randomiserade försök

Over the past 25 years, several randomized experiments have been conducted in the Nordic countries to understand the effects of different labor market policy interventions. These have included activation programs, early meetings, private providers, online interventions, monitoring mechanisms, and more, drawing on examples from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. This project discusses key lessons from these experiments and is carried out within the framework of the 2026 special issue of Nordic Economic Policy Review on randomized trials in the Nordic countries.

The aim is not to provide a comprehensive overview of all previous research. Instead, the project uses selected examples to discuss central aspects of randomized experiments. This includes highlighting the advantages of randomized studies, as well as issues related to their design, implementation, and analysis. Key questions concern ethical considerations and the institutional structures required to enable such experiments. Other aspects include challenges related to planning, analysis plans, and implementation. Important issues such as take-up and objective outcome measures in the evaluation of results from randomized experiments are also discussed.