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Social Democracy and the Decline of Strikes

Molinder, Jakob LU ; Karlsson, Tobias LU and Enflo, Kerstin LU orcid (2021) In Lund papers in Economic history
Abstract
This paper tests if a strong labor movement leads to fewer industrial conflicts. The focus is on Sweden between the first general election in 1919 and the famous Saltsjöbaden Agreement in 1938, a formative period when the country transitioned from fierce labor conflicts to a state of industrial peace. Using panel data techniques to analyze more than 2,000 strikes in 103 Swedish towns, we find that a shift of municipal political majority towards the Social Democrats led to a significant decline in local strike activity, but only in towns where union presence was strong. The strike-reducing mechanism is related to corporatist explanations rather than increased social spending in municipal budgets.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Power Resource Theory, industrial conflicts, strikes, labor markets, local politics, N34, N44, H53, J51
in
Lund papers in Economic history
issue
2021:222
pages
38 pages
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
231aaf09-3028-4ed9-952c-889f8fa5e404
date added to LUP
2021-05-21 10:45:54
date last changed
2021-10-01 02:19:49
@misc{231aaf09-3028-4ed9-952c-889f8fa5e404,
  abstract     = {{This paper tests if a strong labor movement leads to fewer industrial conflicts. The focus is on Sweden between the first general election in 1919 and the famous Saltsjöbaden Agreement in 1938, a formative period when the country transitioned from fierce labor conflicts to a state of industrial peace. Using panel data techniques to analyze more than 2,000 strikes in 103 Swedish towns, we find that a shift of municipal political majority towards the Social Democrats led to a significant decline in local strike activity, but only in towns where union presence was strong. The strike-reducing mechanism is related to corporatist explanations rather than increased social spending in municipal budgets.}},
  author       = {{Molinder, Jakob and Karlsson, Tobias and Enflo, Kerstin}},
  keywords     = {{Power Resource Theory; industrial conflicts; strikes; labor markets; local politics; N34; N44; H53; J51}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2021:222}},
  series       = {{Lund papers in Economic history}},
  title        = {{Social Democracy and the Decline of Strikes}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/98046018/LUPEH_222.pdf}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}