Debt problems,home‐leaving,and boomeranging: A register‐based perspective on economic consequences of moving away from parental home

This article analyses the development of financial problems after leaving one's parental home, and considers how financial problems are associated with likelihood of boomeranging (i.e., adult children returning to parental home). The 9‐year follow‐up study focused on a nationally representative sample of Finnish young people between the ages of 15 and 25 who moved out from their parental home between 2006 and 2009 (n = 9,196). The measure of debt problems was based on monthly data on debt enforcement, a legal matter which may bring serious consequences for the debtors. The primary within‐individual, longitudinal analyses showed that debt problems increased directly after leaving parental home. Education and family background were significant predictors of debt problems in the four years after leaving parental home. Early leavers had significantly more debt problems than later leavers. Debt problems were associated with a higher likelihood of moving back to parental home. The results imply that it is important to support economic decision‐making during early adulthood.     

Why invest in green technologies? Sustainability engagement among small businesses

This study examines the links between sustainability engagement and green technology investments. Using data on 139 Finnish small businesses, the results show a positive relationship between the two. The sustainability engagement of small businesses affects their interest in investing in green technology. However, engagement in environmental sustainability does not seem to be the main motivator behind green technology investments. The results of the mediation analysis show that when investing in green technologies, companies do not consider environmental sustainability as a main value but as a way of achieving social and economic value.     

The complexity of safety in wilderness guiding in Finnish Lapland

This article examines how safety is understood and practised by wilderness guides leading nature excursions with international customers in Finnish Lapland. Commercial nature tourism services in Lapland are not considered adventure-oriented since risk-taking is not an integral part of the guided services. The study shows that even though perceived as low-risk activities, risks are present in a significant part of the everyday actions in commercial nature tourism services. Thus, commercial nature tourism forms a rich context to study the sustainability of contemporary safety practices since it forms a specific, guide-dependent sector of the tourism industry. The discussion further underlines the complexity of safety issues within the industry and the importance of holistic approaches.     

Debt Judgments as a Reflection of Consumption-Related Debt Problems

In connection with the strengthening and enlargement of financial markets, i.e., financialization, financial services and products play a major role in the everyday lives of consumers. One drawback of this trend is the increase in the number of debt problems. The data used in this article consist of Finnish district-court judgments related to debt that in most cases was consumption-related, and register-based data on debtors. We first compare debtors to the entire population of Finland by age, gender, marital status, and education, and also in different age groups. The focus then turns to the four most common types of debt in the judgments (based on consumer credit, operator services, distance selling, and credit card debts), and how age, gender, marital status, and education related to these debt types. According to the results, consumers under 30 years of age, in particular, men, those with a basic level of education, and the divorced were over-represented in the data, compared to the overall Finnish population. Young single adults were particularly likely to have accrued smaller amounts of debt related to instant loans and operator services, whereas more extensive consumer credit as well as credit card debt tended to be a problem among retirees. Credit card debt, as well as debts to lending firms, were more common among those with tertiary education than among those with a basic education. Overall, the adverse effects of financialization focused especially on young people with a low level of education. The results also indicate that legislation could partly reduce the negative effects of financialization.

     

Household Level Economic Incentives, Unemployment Trap and Job Finding Probability

This paper considers the sensitivity of the household's disposable income with respect to the labour market states and the labour market transitions of unemployed workers. The paper analyses the following questions: (i) which are the determinants of starting wages? (ii) how many unemployed are in the unemployment trap? (iii) how do household level economic incentives affect the conditional probability of finding a job? The empirical analysis is based on individual panel data covering the years 1987–1993 in Finland, when the unemployment rate rose from about 4% to 18%. We have estimated the starting wage equation to calculate the effects of hypothetical re-employment on the household's disposable income and to evaluate the frequency of the unemployment trap. To analyse factors affecting the transition out of unemployment to employment in open labour market, we estimate unemployment duration using a semi-parametric proportional risk model. The paper shows that the impact of the economic incentives, measured by the hypothetical change in household disposable income, on employment is more important in the recession than in the boom.     

Parental financial support: A safety net for young adults with debt problems

Parental financial support benefits young adults in societies with decreasing welfare‐state support and a pattern of early home‐leaving. This article focuses on the association between young adults’ debt problems and parental financial support: the extent to which indebted young adults receive financial help from their parents. We also investigate the extent to which specific benefits are associated with debt problems or parental financial support. The data were gathered in an online survey conducted among 18‐to‐35‐year‐old Finns (n = 1,019). The results revealed, first, that many parents safeguard their indebted adult children’s lives by means of financial support and second, that heavy cash‐welfare‐benefit users are particularly likely to receive parental financial support. Our analysis also revealed that the prevalence of debt problems as well as of parental financial support were especially high among those who had received social assistance, sickness benefit or labour‐market subsidy within the previous 12 months. In a society open to new social risks as well as to debt problems, young people who lack financial support from their parents have a rockier transition to adulthood than those who receive support.