The impact of the great emigration on the Swedish economy
Ljungberg, Jonas LU
(1997)
In Scandinavian Economic History Review
45(2).
p.159-189
- Abstract
- In the half-century before 1914 wages in Sweden advanced from below the West European average to being at a level with those in Britain. This remarkable record has seldom been addressed, but the very rapid concurrent Swedish economic growth is well known. The present article argues that the increase in wages was not only due to industrialisation, but that another major factor was the trans-Atlantic emigration, which drained the supply of labour. Central to the argument is that this effect of emigration interacted with. a structural change within the Swedish economy. The traditional export industries faced stiffening competition, and could not afford the higher wages. But the newly emerging branches of industry relied on modern technology,... (More)
- In the half-century before 1914 wages in Sweden advanced from below the West European average to being at a level with those in Britain. This remarkable record has seldom been addressed, but the very rapid concurrent Swedish economic growth is well known. The present article argues that the increase in wages was not only due to industrialisation, but that another major factor was the trans-Atlantic emigration, which drained the supply of labour. Central to the argument is that this effect of emigration interacted with. a structural change within the Swedish economy. The traditional export industries faced stiffening competition, and could not afford the higher wages. But the newly emerging branches of industry relied on modern technology, could pay their workers more, and grew. The article explores factors of demand and supply in the Swedish labour market, and on the basis ofd~ta at the county level the emigration elasticity of growth in daywages is estimated. A tentative counterfactual case confirms that emigration was a major factor in the elevation of wages in Sweden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1aa2c511-de0f-4a2d-8b1b-9f2452a72f74
- author
- Ljungberg, Jonas
LU
- organization
- alternative title
- Emigrationens påverkan på Sveriges ekonomi
- publishing date
- 1997-05-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Scandinavian Economic History Review
- volume
- 45
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 31 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:0031433186
- ISSN
- 1750-2837
- DOI
- 10.1080/03585522.1997.10414666
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1aa2c511-de0f-4a2d-8b1b-9f2452a72f74
- date added to LUP
- 2024-02-07 12:19:50
- date last changed
- 2024-02-08 04:04:02
@article{1aa2c511-de0f-4a2d-8b1b-9f2452a72f74,
abstract = {{In the half-century before 1914 wages in Sweden advanced from below the West European average to being at a level with those in Britain. This remarkable record has seldom been addressed, but the very rapid concurrent Swedish economic growth is well known. The present article argues that the increase in wages was not only due to industrialisation, but that another major factor was the trans-Atlantic emigration, which drained the supply of labour. Central to the argument is that this effect of emigration interacted with. a structural change within the Swedish economy. The traditional export industries faced stiffening competition, and could not afford the higher wages. But the newly emerging branches of industry relied on modern technology, could pay their workers more, and grew. The article explores factors of demand and supply in the Swedish labour market, and on the basis ofd~ta at the county level the emigration elasticity of growth in daywages is estimated. A tentative counterfactual case confirms that emigration was a major factor in the elevation of wages in Sweden.}},
author = {{Ljungberg, Jonas}},
issn = {{1750-2837}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{05}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{159--189}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Scandinavian Economic History Review}},
title = {{The impact of the great emigration on the Swedish economy}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03585522.1997.10414666}},
doi = {{10.1080/03585522.1997.10414666}},
volume = {{45}},
year = {{1997}},
}