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Historical manufacturing census of Sweden: Data description and quality assessment

Almås, Ingvild ; Berger, Thor LU ; Boppart, Timo ; Burchardi, Konrad ; Ejermo, Olof LU orcid ; Eriksson, Björn LU ; Larsson, Anders LU ; Malmberg, Hannes ; Maukner, Stefan and Olsson, Mats LU , et al. (2025) In Historical Methods
Abstract
This article presents a comprehensive database featuring the digitized, cleaned, geocoded, and linked data of the Swedish manufacturing censuses between 1863 and 1900. The data covers close to the universe of Swedish manufacturing activity and includes establishment-level information on workers, the sum of production value, and toll as output value. The article describes how the data was originally collected and the steps taken to go from raw data to the digital database. We discuss each variable’s definition, how it changed over time, and provide an assessment of the reliability of the data pertaining to each variable. We also assess the quality of the data by comparing it to various other data sources from the same time period. The level... (More)
This article presents a comprehensive database featuring the digitized, cleaned, geocoded, and linked data of the Swedish manufacturing censuses between 1863 and 1900. The data covers close to the universe of Swedish manufacturing activity and includes establishment-level information on workers, the sum of production value, and toll as output value. The article describes how the data was originally collected and the steps taken to go from raw data to the digital database. We discuss each variable’s definition, how it changed over time, and provide an assessment of the reliability of the data pertaining to each variable. We also assess the quality of the data by comparing it to various other data sources from the same time period. The level of detail in the data makes the users able to both detect and address potential weaknesses of the data. The database offers a unique resource for scholars to study the manufacturing sector during a time of significant transformation in the Swedish industry. To the best of our knowledge, this is among the earliest sources of annual, establishment-level data worldwide. We discuss potential applications for researchers and potential extensions of the database. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
Manufacturing census, industrial revolution, longitudinal database, Sweden
in
Historical Methods
publisher
Taylor & Francis
ISSN
0161-5440
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7361925c-5c75-42a2-a7a7-93c16c4a611c
alternative location
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01615440.2025.2527132
date added to LUP
2025-07-17 08:56:04
date last changed
2025-08-05 10:37:16
@article{7361925c-5c75-42a2-a7a7-93c16c4a611c,
  abstract     = {{This article presents a comprehensive database featuring the digitized, cleaned, geocoded, and linked data of the Swedish manufacturing censuses between 1863 and 1900. The data covers close to the universe of Swedish manufacturing activity and includes establishment-level information on workers, the sum of production value, and toll as output value. The article describes how the data was originally collected and the steps taken to go from raw data to the digital database. We discuss each variable’s definition, how it changed over time, and provide an assessment of the reliability of the data pertaining to each variable. We also assess the quality of the data by comparing it to various other data sources from the same time period. The level of detail in the data makes the users able to both detect and address potential weaknesses of the data. The database offers a unique resource for scholars to study the manufacturing sector during a time of significant transformation in the Swedish industry. To the best of our knowledge, this is among the earliest sources of annual, establishment-level data worldwide. We discuss potential applications for researchers and potential extensions of the database.}},
  author       = {{Almås, Ingvild and Berger, Thor and Boppart, Timo and Burchardi, Konrad and Ejermo, Olof and Eriksson, Björn and Larsson, Anders and Malmberg, Hannes and Maukner, Stefan and Olsson, Mats and Ostermeyer, Vinzent Leon}},
  issn         = {{0161-5440}},
  keywords     = {{Manufacturing census; industrial revolution; longitudinal database; Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Historical Methods}},
  title        = {{Historical manufacturing census of Sweden: Data description and quality assessment}},
  url          = {{https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01615440.2025.2527132}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}