(07.10.2010 - Juhani Artto) Researchers Susan Kuivalainen from the University of Turku and Kenneth Nelson from Stockholm University conclude, on page 17, as follows: "A tentative conclusion could therefore be that the Nordic welfare state and Nordic social assistance arrangements indeed have changed since 1990, but differences compared to other welfare democracies seem nevertheless to persist.
This is mainly due to the same tendencies going on also in other types of welfare states. Thus, social assistance in the Nordic countries during the last one and a half decade is a story of both change and continuity. Changes have mostly been in the downward direction, with decreased benefit levels and less effective social assistance benefits to reduce poverty.
Continuity concerns the international uniqueness of Nordic social assistance, where benefits in the Nordic countries still are provided at comparatively high levels and where social assistance is rather effective to reduce poverty." - From the study: The future of the welfare state: paths of social policy innovation between constraints and opportunities, September 2009.