By the mid-1990s, it w'as investing more in education than any other country (relative to GDP). Important efforts w'ere made to increase the quality and supply of human capital and a number of reforms were introduced along with expanded public investment in education and R&D. Finland was thus able to upgrade its human capital by transforming its education system from less-than-average to one of the best international performers, becoming a modem publicly funded system with a high degree of equity, good quality and wide participation. Countercyclical policies compensated for the decline in business R&D expenditure during the crisis. Domestic investment in research and innovation started to expand rapidly in the second half of the 1990s.