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Geographical Location and Urbanization of the Swedish Manufacturing Industry, 1900-1960: Evidence from a New Database

Berger, Thor LU ; Enflo, Kerstin LU orcid and Henning, Martin LU (2012) In Scandinavian Economic History Review 60(3). p.290-308
Abstract
This article introduces a new database, based on official statistics, of regional manufacturing industries in Sweden. We employ this database to examine the distribution of manufacturing activity across Swedish regions and cities, 1900–1960. Over this period we observe an increasing concentration of manufacturing activities, reaching a peak around 1940, across the northern, southern and western parts (NUTS-I areas) of Sweden. Over the same period, the North-South divide in terms of manufacturing employment grew larger. Across counties (NUTS-III) and cities we, however, observe two shorter periods of convergence of manufacturing activities, in the early twentieth century and in the post-war period, whereas the inter-war period was... (More)
This article introduces a new database, based on official statistics, of regional manufacturing industries in Sweden. We employ this database to examine the distribution of manufacturing activity across Swedish regions and cities, 1900–1960. Over this period we observe an increasing concentration of manufacturing activities, reaching a peak around 1940, across the northern, southern and western parts (NUTS-I areas) of Sweden. Over the same period, the North-South divide in terms of manufacturing employment grew larger. Across counties (NUTS-III) and cities we, however, observe two shorter periods of convergence of manufacturing activities, in the early twentieth century and in the post-war period, whereas the inter-war period was characterised by divergence. These developments occurred to the backdrop of the urbanisation of industry in Sweden, as the rural share of manufacturing employment declined from roughly 60 to 25% between 1900 and 1960. We also find that the regional patterns of individual industries over time followed different trajectories, suggesting that that the determinants of industry location differed significantly across industries. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
industry location, industrialisation, second industrial revolution, urbanisation, convergence
in
Scandinavian Economic History Review
volume
60
issue
3
pages
290 - 308
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:84869189489
ISSN
0358-5522
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
02bb0961-8df7-45cf-ac8b-0d02dab2096b (old id 3408923)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 07:30:43
date last changed
2022-02-28 03:40:44
@article{02bb0961-8df7-45cf-ac8b-0d02dab2096b,
  abstract     = {{This article introduces a new database, based on official statistics, of regional manufacturing industries in Sweden. We employ this database to examine the distribution of manufacturing activity across Swedish regions and cities, 1900–1960. Over this period we observe an increasing concentration of manufacturing activities, reaching a peak around 1940, across the northern, southern and western parts (NUTS-I areas) of Sweden. Over the same period, the North-South divide in terms of manufacturing employment grew larger. Across counties (NUTS-III) and cities we, however, observe two shorter periods of convergence of manufacturing activities, in the early twentieth century and in the post-war period, whereas the inter-war period was characterised by divergence. These developments occurred to the backdrop of the urbanisation of industry in Sweden, as the rural share of manufacturing employment declined from roughly 60 to 25% between 1900 and 1960. We also find that the regional patterns of individual industries over time followed different trajectories, suggesting that that the determinants of industry location differed significantly across industries.}},
  author       = {{Berger, Thor and Enflo, Kerstin and Henning, Martin}},
  issn         = {{0358-5522}},
  keywords     = {{industry location; industrialisation; second industrial revolution; urbanisation; convergence}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{290--308}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Scandinavian Economic History Review}},
  title        = {{Geographical Location and Urbanization of the Swedish Manufacturing Industry, 1900-1960: Evidence from a New Database}},
  volume       = {{60}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}