The escape from hunger: The impact of food prices on well-being in Sweden, 1813–1967
(2025) In Explorations in Economic History 96.- Abstract
- This study analyses how the standard of living for different social groups changed when Sweden developed from an agricultural to an industrial society and when the first steps towards a modern welfare society were taken. As a measure of living standards, we use the ability to overcome short-term economic stress caused by high food prices. We use individual-level longitudinal data from 1813 to 1967 for a rural/semi-urban area in southern Sweden with similar economic development, occupational structure, life expectancy and fertility to the country as a whole. We found that during the first part of the 19th century, when agriculture was reformed and grain became an export product, workers, but not farmers and other social groups, deliberately... (More)
- This study analyses how the standard of living for different social groups changed when Sweden developed from an agricultural to an industrial society and when the first steps towards a modern welfare society were taken. As a measure of living standards, we use the ability to overcome short-term economic stress caused by high food prices. We use individual-level longitudinal data from 1813 to 1967 for a rural/semi-urban area in southern Sweden with similar economic development, occupational structure, life expectancy and fertility to the country as a whole. We found that during the first part of the 19th century, when agriculture was reformed and grain became an export product, workers, but not farmers and other social groups, deliberately postponed births in response to rising food prices. Despite these efforts to maintain consumption, workers and their families suffered increased mortality risks during years of high food prices, indicating that they lived close to the subsistence margin and could not save to ensure consumption in bad times. In the second half of the 19th century, rising real wages improved workers’ living conditions and the mortality response to economic stress decreased. By the 20th century, as the economy progressed and welfare systems emerged, the mortality response disappeared entirely. In contrast, childbearing was still affected by economic cycles but now only during turmoil of the First World War and the 1918 influenza pandemic and not afterwards (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/932ed74b-d9d4-4f89-b291-328ef400d39f
- author
- Bengtsson, Tommy LU and Quaranta, Luciana LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- inequality, social class, living standards, demographic transition, short-term economic stress, demographic response
- in
- Explorations in Economic History
- volume
- 96
- article number
- 101652
- pages
- 17 pages
- publisher
- Academic Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85213277394
- ISSN
- 0014-4983
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.eeh.2024.101652
- project
- Pathogens, Pandemics and the Development of Nordic Societies
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 932ed74b-d9d4-4f89-b291-328ef400d39f
- date added to LUP
- 2025-02-20 15:19:51
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 13:51:35
@article{932ed74b-d9d4-4f89-b291-328ef400d39f,
abstract = {{This study analyses how the standard of living for different social groups changed when Sweden developed from an agricultural to an industrial society and when the first steps towards a modern welfare society were taken. As a measure of living standards, we use the ability to overcome short-term economic stress caused by high food prices. We use individual-level longitudinal data from 1813 to 1967 for a rural/semi-urban area in southern Sweden with similar economic development, occupational structure, life expectancy and fertility to the country as a whole. We found that during the first part of the 19th century, when agriculture was reformed and grain became an export product, workers, but not farmers and other social groups, deliberately postponed births in response to rising food prices. Despite these efforts to maintain consumption, workers and their families suffered increased mortality risks during years of high food prices, indicating that they lived close to the subsistence margin and could not save to ensure consumption in bad times. In the second half of the 19th century, rising real wages improved workers’ living conditions and the mortality response to economic stress decreased. By the 20th century, as the economy progressed and welfare systems emerged, the mortality response disappeared entirely. In contrast, childbearing was still affected by economic cycles but now only during turmoil of the First World War and the 1918 influenza pandemic and not afterwards}},
author = {{Bengtsson, Tommy and Quaranta, Luciana}},
issn = {{0014-4983}},
keywords = {{inequality; social class; living standards; demographic transition; short-term economic stress; demographic response}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Academic Press}},
series = {{Explorations in Economic History}},
title = {{The escape from hunger: The impact of food prices on well-being in Sweden, 1813–1967}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2024.101652}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.eeh.2024.101652}},
volume = {{96}},
year = {{2025}},
}