Henri Salokangas

Henri Salokangas is a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), working within the Socially Sustainable Society unit under the Welfare State Research department of Healthcare and Social Welfare. His research focuses on the intersection of economics, public health, and social welfare systems.

Education:

• Doctor of Social Sciences, economics, University of Turku (2020)
• Master of Social Sciences, economics, University of Turku (2012)

Dr. Salokangas specializes in quasi-experimental research designs, register-based research, health shocks, psychiatric epidemiology, and health economics. His work examines how health conditions impact economic outcomes at individual and family levels, with particular emphasis on mental health economics, cancer's economic burden, and labor market responses to health shocks. His methodological expertise in causal inference techniques allows him to establish robust connections between health events and socioeconomic consequences.

His publication record reveals a consistent focus on family dynamics in health economics, investigating how spousal cancer affects income and employment, how child health shocks reinforce gender inequality in parental labor market participation, and how economic crises influence long-term health behaviors. His research often leverages large register-based datasets to produce policy-relevant insights.

Professional Leadership:

• President of the Finnish Health Economics Seminar Series
• Vice-President of the Finnish Society for Health Economics

Dr. Salokangas currently leads significant research initiatives including INVEST (Inequalities, Interventions, and New Welfare State) which examines welfare state responses to health inequalities, and FLUX (Family Formation in Flux) which investigates changing family dynamics. His previous work on the SOCCAN project analyzed the economic burden of cancer on families and the role of social insurance systems in mitigating these impacts.