Economic Resilience (EconRe) research team

How is resilience realised at individual, organisational and regional levels?

Our resilience research focuses on resilience at different levels: individual, community, regional, national, and global levels. We are interested in how regional factors affect the regions' resilience and recovery, i.e., the ability to adapt to and endure industry-specific and general economic shocks and fluctuations. At the individual level, our interest is to study the connection between an individual's tendency to resist change, their resilience, and personality traits. Furthermore, we examine how digital solutions can strengthen the ability of people, organisations, businesses, and regions to adapt to economic change. In our research, we combine machine learning methods, like topic modeling, surveys, and experimental research methods.

• Riepponen, T., Moilanen, M. & Simonen, J. (2023). Themes of resilience in the economics literature: A topic modeling approach. Regional Science Policy and Practice, 15(2), 326–356.
• Simonen, J., Herala, J. & Svento, R. (2020). Creative destruction and creative resilience: Restructuring of the Nokia dominated high-tech sector in the Oulu region. Regional Science Policy and Practice, 12(5), 931–953.

How do individual and regional factors affect intra- and inter-regional labour mobility?

Our research focuses on the high-technology labour markets in Finland. We are interested in individual, regional and institutional factors that affect intra- and inter-regional labour mobility. We have studied labour mobility, e.g., in different stages of the industry's life cycle. Currently, our work focuses on post-displacement mobility and long-run mobility patterns. Studies are based on micro data managed by Statistics Finland.

• Simonen, J., McCann, P., Karhinen, S. & Svento, R. (2024). The drivers of intra- and inter-regional labour mobility over the industry life cycle of the high-tech sector. Journal of Regional Science (available online).
• Simonen, J., Svento, R., Karhinen, S. & McCann, P. (2018). Inter-regional and inter-sectoral labour mobility and the industry life cycle: A panel data analysis of Finnish high technology sector. In B. Biagi, A. Faggian, I. Rajbhandari & V. A. Venhorst (Eds.), New frontiers in interregional migration research, Advances in Spatial Science (pp. 151–179). Cham: Springer.

How can regional and cross-border smart specialisation strategies support the development of innovative activities?

Regional and cross-border smart specialisation strategies can support the development of innovative activities and thus regional economic growth. Our goal is to provide research-based information that helps regions and communities meet local and global challenges in the intensifying international competition. Our research focuses on applying, e.g., natural language processing and other machine learning methods that can be useful for identifying a shared vision of research domains within and across regions.

• Moilanen, M., Østbye, S. & Simonen, J. (2021). Machine learning and the identification of Smart Specialisation thematic networks in Arctic Scandinavia. Regional Studies, 56(9), 1429-1441.
• Report: Cross-border cooperation on innovation - A joint taskforce

What kind of social norms can be seen in online labour markets?

Our research delves into the intricate web of influences that affect individuals' productivity in the online labour markets. We aim to gain insights into the factors that mould online work behaviours, as well as comprehend the emergence and reinforcement of unspoken norms in these online workspaces. A significant aspect of our investigation revolves around the pivotal role that psychology plays in this context, particularly in relation to how an individual's personality traits and emotional states intertwine with their approach to online labour. Furthermore, we are interested in the connection of personal preferences and online labour market outcomes. By examining these preferences, we aim to shed light on how they contribute to shaping the nature of work in the online realm. Beyond this, we are dedicated to understanding the notable influence that behavioural biases exert on issues such as discrimination, as they can have significant implications for the dynamics of online labour environments. In essence, our research not only seeks to unravel the complex threads that determine online labour behaviour but also recognises the vital role that psychology plays in shaping these behaviours, reflecting the nuanced interplay of personality, mood and emotions.

• Mourelatos, E., Simonen, J., Hosio, S., Likhobaba, D. & Ustalov, D. (2024). How has the COVID-19 pandemic shaped behavior in crowdsourcing? The role of online labor market training. Journal of Business Economics.
• Mourelatos, E. (2023). Does mood affect sexual and gender discrimination in hiring choices? Evidence from online experiments. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 106: 102069.
• Manganari, E., Mourelatos, E., Michos, N. & Dimara, E. (2022). Harnessing the power of defaults now and forever? The effects of mood and personality. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 26(4), 472–496.

How do global megatrends together with the changing industrial structure affect the growth of the Arctic regions and their ability to adapt to sudden changes in the economy?

Global megatrends, such as the growing role of the service sector in the economy, and changing industrial structure affect the growth of the Arctic regions. Unprecedented challenges posed by the current geopolitical turmoil have also changed the situation in the Arctic regions. Resilience and sustainable development of society in green and digital transition contexts, especially at the community level, is one of our research interests. We are interested in how regional policy measures can support this development. Our goal is to provide valuable information about successful and less successful practices in the Arctic regions and thereby provide policy recommendations for the future. Regional effects are analysed from the viewpoint of regional resilience.

• Simonen, J., Moilanen, M., Kotila, J., Lohtander, J., Westin, L., Hersinger, A., Østbye, S., Riepponen, T. & Svento, R. (2023). The COVID-19 pandemic and regional economic resilience in northern Finland, Norway and Sweden – bouncing back or not? Arctic Yearbook 2023, 246–269.
• Simonen, J., Moilanen, M., Westin, L., Hersinger, A., Østbye, S., Riepponen, T. & Svento, R. (2021). The COVID-19 pandemic and regional economic resilience in Northern Finland, Norway, and Sweden – A pre-study.

Community resilience at the intersection of economic, social, and environmental capital

Master's thesis by Nea Kunnari

Resilience describes the system’s ability to respond to changes, shocks, and disruptions in its operating environment. This thesis focuses on defining community resilience at the intersection of economic, social, and environmental capital. Strong resilience is conceptualized by how well the economic, social, and environmental capitals of the community are developed: in strongly resilient communities all three of the capitals are well-developed, and most importantly, the capitals are balanced. Balancing community capitals can be difficult, since communities consist of heterogenous individuals, who can have differing preferences and values regarding community development. In this thesis, the tools of social choice theory are employed to study resilient decision-making, which requires deliberate effort and long-term commitment due to its crucial role in determining both current and future resilience. The results of this thesis can be used to guide community development to build resilience to different disruptions.

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The effect of repeated shocks on individual competitiveness: an experiment

Master's thesis by Tarif Tahmeed Khan

Individual competitiveness, or the general tendency to self-select into competitive environments, has gained growing attention in the field of behavioral and experimental economics for its ability to predict labor market outcomes, career choices, as well as education choices. It is also argued to be an underlying factor behind the underrepresentation of women in the labor market. The thesis studies how repeated shocks can potentially disrupt willingness to compete for the two genders using a real-effort task in an incentivized online labor market experiment. The results show negative effects on performance and willingness to compete for both genders, with women being slightly more affected due to the large difference in confidence. While the experimental design raises questions regarding external validity, it highlights opportunities for future research on measuring resilience using real-effort tasks. Moreover, it can be further extended to induce shocks with alternate methods and of varying magnitudes.

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Exploring gig economy literature: a topic modelling approach

Master's thesis by Joona Lohtander

Gig economy refers to the growing phenomenon of work consisting of short-term tasks, which are paid per task. The gig economy also often offers flexible working arrangements. The gig economy is a complex and evolving phenomenon and understanding the growing literature on it can be challenging. In this Master’s thesis topic modelling is used to find latent topics in the scientific literature on the gig economy. Furthermore, trends in the topics are assessed and opportunities for future research are identified. The trends in the distribution of topics seem to highlight the recent emergence of “local gig platforms”, in which work is mediated through online platforms but done on-site.

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Asymmetric venture capital fund and regional resilience (Thesis in Finnish)

Master's thesis by Jemina Kotila

Resilience refers to the ability of different actors to anticipate, recover from and adapt to various disturbances. This thesis studies the effects of regional venture capital (VC) fund on regional resilience. Besides regional factors, regional resilience is comprised of resilient workers and firms. Therefore, in this thesis, resilience is also studied at the individual and organisational levels. Regional VC fund seems to benefit the region in many ways through entrepreneurship. One of its most important effects relates to the development of a vital startup-ecosystem. VC fund enables the start of new businesses and the spread of information. It also helps firms to attract funding from other sources. All this development promotes regional resilience.

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Entrepreneurial risk and resilience

Master's thesis by Essi Maalismaa

This thesis studies the risks of entrepreneurship and the resilience of entrepreneurs. Risks cannot be avoided in entrepreneurship. Thus, studying the risk attitudes of entrepreneurs and the effect risk attitudes have on their success is crucial. Risks also make resilience important as it is vital for the entrepreneur to be able to recover quickly from any adverse situations and setbacks that the risks might result. Entrepreneurs are often considered resilient because the nature of entrepreneurship requires ability to survive challenging circumstances and learn from them to be better prepared in the future. However, there is no evidence of all entrepreneurs being highly resilient or resilience guaranteeing entrepreneurial success. Resilience rather increases the probability of becoming an entrepreneur and assists in survival during difficult times. Because risk attitudes and resilience are extremely difficult to measure, the future research should not be focused solely on the measurement but rather on how to support and improve entrepreneurs’ risk management and resilience.

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Jaakko Simonen works as a professor at the Department of Economics, Accounting and Finance in Oulu Business School. His current research focuses on studying resilience at various levels (individual, organizational and regional), regional smart specialization, the inter-regional and inter-sectoral labour mobility and roles of the industrial structure and innovation ecosystem in regional growth.

Cross-border cooperation in the arctic regions is also one of his research interests. In 2018-2019, he was the chair of the cooperation project between the Arctic 5 universities and respective cities, known as The Cross-Border Cooperation on Innovation – A Joint Taskforce. He has published, e.g., in Regional Studies, Journal of Urban Economics, Papers in Regional Science, The Annals of Regional Science and International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business.

During his career, he has been working as a visiting researcher at the University of Reading, UK, the University of Waikato, New Zealand and the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He has been involved in the administrative duties of the University of Oulu (Research Assessment Exercise 2007) as well as in Oulu Business School (e.g., AACSB Accreditation project). He holds a Doctor of Science degree in Economics from the Oulu Business School.

See Jaakko's researcher profile.

Vaggelis Mourelatos (PhD, Department of Economics, University of Patras; Master’s degree in Business Engineering, National Technical University of Athens) is a researcher at the University of Oulu, Finland. His current research interests are in the areas of experimental economics, behavioural economics, online labour markets and micro-econometrics. He focuses on the determinants of online working behaviour, the emergence and enforcement of social norms, the role of preferences on labour market outcomes, and the effect of behavioural biases on discrimination. Vaggelis’ work has appeared in various journals such as Interacting with Computers, Behavior and Information Technology, Netnomics, and Southern East Journal of Economics.

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Jemina focuses on labour mobility from individual and regional perspectives. Mobility is a form of resilience against shocks related to work life, and Jemina is especially intrigued by how these unexpected events shape individual career paths. The main emphasis of Jemina’s research is to deepen our understanding of who are mobile individuals, how they are mobile and why they are mobile. In 2025, Jemina visited the Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands for six months.

Jemina's Master's thesis (in Finnish)

Joona studies decision-making under change. His research focuses on an individual’s resilience and personality, and how they affect an individual’s decision-making under change. He is especially interested in resistance to change, and how insights from behavioural economics could be utilised in promoting reforms and compromises. Joona worked as a coordinator in a special course jointly organised by Oulu Business School and Ruhr University Bochum in 2023. He now coordinates a summer school in Oulu, which is organised together with the University of Lodz and Ruhr University Bochum.

Joona's Master's thesis

Tarif's is a recent graduate with a Master’s degree in economics from Oulu Business School. His research interests are in labor economics, the economics of discrimination, behavioral economics, individual competitiveness, and online choice experiments. In the summer of 2023, Tarif designed an online labor market experiment for his master’s thesis to study how repeated shocks affect individual competitiveness. After graduation, he shortly worked at the VATT Institute for Economic Research as a research assistant on a project exploring the impact of taxation on electric motor vehicles. At the moment, he is focusing on understanding the role of personality traits in decision making.

Nea is a recent graduate with a Master’s degree in Economics from Oulu Business School. She studies social resilience at the community and regional levels, especially in the context of the green transition. Her research interests are Arctic community resilience, regional development, and the role of personal values and decision-making in fostering resilience and a fair transition to a greener way of living.

Rauli Svento is professor emeritus of economics at the Department of Economics, Accounting and Finance in Oulu Business School. His main research interests are in environmental and energy economics, regional economics, and health economics. He is developing the creative resilience concept with the GenZ resilience team. He has headed the department and served as dean of the school and vice president of the university.

See Rauli's researcher profile.

• Report: Arctic 5 cities and COVID-19 pandemic - Return to workplaces
• Report: Arctic 5 cities and COVID-19 pandemic – Record-breaking summer for domestic tourism
• Report: Arctic 5 cities and COVID-19 pandemic - Change in visits to retail and recreation places
• Report: The COVID-19 pandemic in the Arctic 5 cities - Economic effects and recovery