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One and a Half Millennium of Economic Change in Sweden

Krantz, Olle LU (2023) In Lund Papers in Economic History
Abstract
Construction of historical national accounts has a long history in Sweden. It started in the interwar period and later a number of improvements and extensions backward and forward in time have been made. Thus, now there are series from 1300 onwards. Of course, due to limitations of the source material, the estimates are more and more uncertain the further back in time they refer to. In this paper GDP per capita for the entire period is analysed. Growth episodes and stagnation periods are identified and comparisons of income levels with other countries are made. It is found that Sweden was not distinctly backward at any time during the whole period. Economic changes before 1300 are also discussed on the basis of previous historical... (More)
Construction of historical national accounts has a long history in Sweden. It started in the interwar period and later a number of improvements and extensions backward and forward in time have been made. Thus, now there are series from 1300 onwards. Of course, due to limitations of the source material, the estimates are more and more uncertain the further back in time they refer to. In this paper GDP per capita for the entire period is analysed. Growth episodes and stagnation periods are identified and comparisons of income levels with other countries are made. It is found that Sweden was not distinctly backward at any time during the whole period. Economic changes before 1300 are also discussed on the basis of previous historical research. Hence, it is to a certain extent conjectures. There were long-term ups and downs in the economy also in this early period. Furthermore, it is questioned whether the old opinion of the area later called Sweden as very poor compared to the rest of northern Europe can be upheld. Scandinavia was for instance expansive internationally with trading and raiding in the Viking period. Could this have characterised a very poor region?
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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
historical national accounts, Sweden, GDP, N13, 044
in
Lund Papers in Economic History
issue
2023:249
pages
31 pages
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6375f743-9531-4ee5-95cc-842c4a9f3e78
date added to LUP
2023-06-26 09:15:19
date last changed
2023-06-26 09:15:19
@misc{6375f743-9531-4ee5-95cc-842c4a9f3e78,
  abstract     = {{Construction of historical national accounts has a long history in Sweden. It started in the  interwar period and later a number of improvements and extensions backward and forward in  time have been made. Thus, now there are series from 1300 onwards. Of course, due to  limitations of the source material, the estimates are more and more uncertain the further back in time they refer to. In this paper GDP per capita for the entire period is analysed. Growth  episodes and stagnation periods are identified and comparisons of income levels with other  countries are made. It is found that Sweden was not distinctly backward at any time during the  whole period. Economic changes before 1300 are also discussed on the basis of previous  historical research. Hence, it is to a certain extent conjectures. There were long-term ups and  downs in the economy also in this early period. Furthermore, it is questioned whether the old  opinion of the area later called Sweden as very poor compared to the rest of northern Europe  can be upheld. Scandinavia was for instance expansive internationally with trading and raiding in the Viking period. Could this have characterised a very poor region?  <br/>}},
  author       = {{Krantz, Olle}},
  keywords     = {{historical national accounts; Sweden; GDP; N13; 044}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2023:249}},
  series       = {{Lund Papers in Economic History}},
  title        = {{One and a Half Millennium of Economic Change in Sweden}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/151338408/LUPEH_249.pdf}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}