A survey of the public records system in Sweden

Abstract

The public records system in Sweden consists of the National Archives (Riksarkivet) in Stockholm, the provincial archives (landsarkiv) at Lund, Uppsala, Vadstena, Gothenburg and Härnösand, the county archives (länsarkiv) at Visby and Ostersund and the municipal archives (stadsarkiv) of Stockholm and Malmö, the National Archives being the supreme authority for this system. The military archives system has its own authority: the Royal Archives of the Army and Navy (Krigsarkivet) in Stockholm. Some of the central administrative boards (centrala ämbetsverk) have also archives administered by their own staff, e.g. the Royal Survey Board (Lantmäteristyrelsen) and the Central Bureau of Statistics (Statistiska Centralbyran). There are, of course, also a great number of private archives outside the public records system, e.g. the archives of the Royal Family (Bernadotteska familjearkivet) in the Royal Palace in Stockholm and the archives of the de la Gardie Family kept in Lund University Library. With the two exceptions mentioned above (Stockholm and Malmö) the municipal archives are also regarded as private and so are, of course, the business archives the most important of which are those of Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags AB, Falun, Holmens Bruks AB, Norrköping, Uddeholms AB, Uddeholm, and Svenska Gellulosa AB, Sundsvall.     

Sweden's first bank-notes

Abstract

Sweden's first bank, Stockholms Banco, began to function in 1657. Its name is familiar among economic historians because it was the first bank in Europe to issue bank-notes in the modern sense of the word. It is exactly three hundred years since this issue began, and to celebrate the jubilee the Riksbank (Bank of Sweden) has published a work on the first Swedish bank-notes; its author IS Aleksandrs Platbārzdis of the Royal Coin Cabinet, Stockholm. The book is beautifully produced and richly illustrated.     

A hundred years of Swedish timber exports

Abstract

This is a memorial publication issued by the Swedish Wood Exporters' Association (Svenska Trävaruexportföreningen) on the occasion of the Association's 75th anniversary. Professor Soderlund of Stockholm University has both edited the work and written the largest single section - the history of the timber exporting industry during the period 1850-19°0. The second half-century has been shared by Miss Annagreta Hallberg and Mr. Jan Sandin, with 1922-23 as the dividing line.     

Judiskt liv i Stockholm och Norden: ekonomi,identitet och assimilering 1850–1930

Abstract

The Viking Age has a remarkable place in Scandinavian economic history. The source material for this study is copious and takes the form of lots of silver coins minted during the Viking Age in many different places, chiefly in the Caliphate, the Byzantine Empire, Central Europe and England and exported to Scandinavia, particularly to Gotland, where they were hoarded and sometimes buried. Those which have been recovered, some two hundred thousand, are now preserved in various museums, chiefly in the unique collection in Kungl. myntkabinettet, Statens museum för mynt-, medalj- och penninghistoria, (The Royal Coin Cabinet, National Museum of Monetary History), Stockholm.     

The communications system and the economic transactions of Häme castle in the mid- sixteenth century

Abstract

This paper is mostly based on the account books of Häme Castle in southern Finland for the period 1539-1570. Such castles were a means of achieving political and military objectives as well as the control and exploitation of local economic resources. The organization of an improved communication system opened up economic possibilities for the central administration, and Häme Castle was a pari of this system. Häme Castle can be seen as a centre of land traffic in its region, most of the loads of goods leaving the castle being carried along the Ox Road to Turku in west Finland. The consignments were varied, including ryas and other bedclothes for the castles of Stockholm and Gripsholm. Häme Castle was also a notable craft centre and the region's largest employer. In addition to the permanent jobs offered, there were opportunities for additional incomes to be earned by the artisans of the surrounding area as well as commercial opportunities for local peasants.     

Early history of banking in Gothenburg discount house operations 1783–1818

Abstract

For many years Sweden lacked a well-developed banking system. Even by the middle of the eighteenth century, there were no established institutions for the effective mobilising and channelling of capital. However, Sweden's economic development during the eighteen century, when commerce and the production of goods were expanding swiftly, increased the need for some institutionalising of capital movements and the establishment of fixed forms, especially for personal credits. During the latter half of the century, the Swedish Rikshankdid deliberately conduct certain types of operation whose effect was to satisfy a growing demand for capital in some sectors, of the economy. This was effected through such bodies as Manufakturdiskontoen(The Manufacturers' Discount Bank), Generalassistans-kontoret(General Assistance Office), Diskontkompaniet(the Discount Company), Generaldiskontkontoret(the General Discounting Office) and Riksgäldskontoret(the National Debt Office). ¹ On this development generally see Fritz, S., Studier i svenskt bänkväsen 1772-1789, Stockholm 1967 and literature referred to therein.      

The scope and structure of the Danish negro slave trade

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the scope and structure of the Danish negro slave trade in the second half of the eighteenth century. This, it will be shown, did not consist merely of a Danish triangular slave trade within a closed Danish mercantilist colonial system: it was based upon extensive cooperation with other slave trading nations both in Africa and the West Indies. The Danish slave trade embraced three branches: slaves imported into St. Croix for employment, a transit slave trade at St. Thomas and a triangular slave trade. The present paper examines these largely independent aspects of the Danish slave trade, surveys the economic background and attempts to elucidate the edict of 16 March 1792, abolishing the trade.     

SEHR & IEHA — the early years

Abstract

In January 1952, Professor Astrid Friis asked me to accompany her and our colleague Aksel E Christensen to Stockholm for the inaugural meeting of a closed circle of Nordic historians who had set themselves the task of publishing an English-language journal of economic history. The meeting was arranged by Professor Ernst Söderlund. By way of introduction he brought us greetings from Eli F Heckscher, who by his work and debating ability had done more than anyone else to create respect for the subject of economic history in Sweden, and whose name was also renowned internationally thanks in part to his book on mercantilism. His latest achievement was the second volume of his mammoth work of Swedish economic history. Heckscher was in hospital at the time and died shortly afterwards. Thus it came about that the torch was passed on, but still it was clear that the Heckscher era was ebbing to its close.     

Half the power,half the income and half the glory,the use of microeconomic theory in women's emancipation research

Summary Major fields of economic research to understand the development of women's integration into the economy and women's economic independence can be categorized into three main groups. First, theories that attempt to explain wage and earnings differences according to gender; second, theories that attempt to explain the division of work within the family, and third, theories that attempt to explain the determination of fertility and the combination of work and motherhood. This paper offers a review of these three areas of neo-classical theory as well as an evaluation as to what extent the theories are adequate to answer the questions of women's emancipation research.This article is a revised version of my inaugural speech held on May 30th, 1990, at the official assumption of the chair of Labour market issues with special attention to women's emancipation, at the University of Amsterdam. Comments on earlier drafts have been received by Marga Bruyn-Hundt, Joop Hartog, Jan Hoem, Henriëtte Maassen van den Brink, Notburga Ott, Hettie Pott-Buter, Jolande Sap, Kea Tijdens, the participants of the demographic colloquium at Stockholm University, and the editor ofDe Economist.     

Swedish artisans in the nineteenth century

Abstract

The history of the artisan class and of the gild system in Sweden has been dealt with in a number of works, such as Professor E. Heckscher's Sveriges ekonomiska historia [The Economic History of Sweden] and in two of the volumes of the great work of Landsorganisationen ¹ Landsorganisationen, popularly known as ‘L.O’, the Swedish equivalent of the T.U.C. : Den svenska arbetarklassens historia [History of the Swedish Working Class], as well as in Professor E. Söderlund's Stockholms hantverkarklass 1720–1772 [The Artisan Class of Stockholm, 1720–1772]. These topics are of course also touched upon in histories of towns and other literature. However, in those studies which cover the whole country the subject has only been pursued to the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th. The subsequent period is discussed in Henry Lindström's two books Näringsfrihetens utveckling i Sverige 1809–1836 and Näringsirihetsirågan i Sverige 1837–1864 [The Development of Industrial Freedom in Sweden, 1809–1836, and The Problem of Industrial Freedom in Sweden, 1837–1864], but only from a special point of view. Thanks, however, to the good offices of Sveriges hantuerks- och småindustriorgonisation (The Swedish Craft and Minor Industries Organisation), an attempt has now been made, in a work by Dr. Tom Söderberg that has been in preparation for some time, to fill the gap thus existing in respect of the period after 1815. The result, in spite of the relatively limited number of pages, is a very comprehensive exposition, even if the subject obviously cannot be exhausted within the given frame of reference.     

Opposing Prêt-à-Porter: Mills,Guilds and Government on Ready-made Clothing in Early Nineteenth-Century Stockholm

Abstract

This article discusses how economic thought constituted an institutional obstacle to the development of a consumer society in Sweden, during the decades around the year 1800, with reference to the production and distribution of ready-made clothing. The analysis is based on the discussions sparked by the Stockholm Tailor's Guild's repeated applications for permission to open a ‘clothes warehouse’. The article examines the positions taken by the different actors on the local arena and on the state level. It argues that although rivalry over the local market and conflicts between different corporate bodies did play a role, the decisive factor in deciding the question was the role and position of the Swedish textile industry. Appeals to what was beneficial and of practical use to Stockholm inhabitants were countered by warnings of increased smuggling and weakened control over the quality of industrial and craft products, as well as arguments concerning the optimal uses of the country's workforce. Thus, an apparently simple application for permission to sew clothes together, and then sell them, developed into a discussion of the entire basis of Swedish society's economic structure.     

The geography of urbanization — Sweden and Finland,c. 1570–1770

Abstract

In this article Swedish urbanization is considered as a long term growth cycle. The urban system expanded both geographically and demographically during the seventeenth century. Many new towns were founded, and urban growth rates were generally high. Swedish urban geography was characterized by peripheral expansion mainly towards northern Sweden. At the same time there was a strong tendency towards the centralization of urban resources. The capital city, Stockholm, evolved from being a medium-sized town to becoming a city worthy of Sweden s great power status. During the eighteenth century several of the seventeenth century trends were reversed: the centralising tendency ended and indeed regressed, while general urban growth slowed down, turning into an ‘urban growth from below’. Stockholm became a stagnation metropolis' and the eastern-central part of Sweden experienced an urban setback relative to western Sweden, where several towns, including Gothenburg, profited from their close connections with the expansive markets of northern and western Europe.     

Networks and Scientific Integrity: Eli Heckscher and the Construction of Economic History in Sweden, 1920–1950

Abstract

This article deals with the US government's efforts to curb the Swedish ball bearing producer SKF's exports to the East early in the Cold War, 1950–1952, and interprets this process within the framework of hegemony theory. In doing this, the article makes use of previously unutilised US archival material. The period up to mid-1951 saw increasing US pressure upon Sweden and SKF to consent to US hegemony by abiding by the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (CoCom) embargo. To achieve its objectives US policymakers developed a flexible ‘carrot and stick’ approach, and the article adds considerable detail regarding the US government's handling of SKF. US tolerance and flexibility was dependent upon Swedish consent to American hegemony in Western Europe, which was received through the signing of the Stockholm agreement – a hegemonic apparatus through which Sweden's abidance by the embargo was handled – in mid-June 1951. A small amount of exports was accepted by Washington as long as the main US objective – to deny the Eastern Bloc strategic technology – was adhered to by SKF. The article also reveals the lack of policy coordination in the Swedish government, and the conflicts between the government and SKF regarding the responsibility for adhering to the embargo.     

Economic history research in Sweden since the mid-1970s

Abstract

In the Swedish university system, economic history forms an independent subject falling within the faculty of social sciences. Professorships in the subject were established at Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala, Lund and Umeå between the end of the 1940s and the end of the 1960s. A second chair was established at Lund in 1988. Furthermore, resources have been increased step by step through the addition of other kinds of teaching and research services, including a lectureship at Örebro. Teachers from departments of economic history give tuition not only within the bounds of their own subject but also as components of lengthy courses of professional training, for example, for history teachers and economists. AU the departments in the subject provide research training leading to writing of dissertations in economic history. Most of them also offer a licentiate examination as an intermediate stage on the way.     

Some observations on four series of Tuscan corn prices 1520–1630

Abstract

In his address to the International History Congress in Stockholm, 1960, Professor Earl J. Hamilton¹ regretted the lack of a history of Italian prices, a matter which was all the more surprising since there was known to be copious material—often systematically recorded—giving series of prices, particularly from the sixteenth century and later, in Italian archives. During the last thirty years numerous papers and publications based on this material have appeared which go some way towards filling the gap.     

The note issues of the bank of Sweden, 1668–1968

Abstract

Bank notes have a long history in Sweden. The first to have all the main characteristics of a bank note were issued in 1661 by Stockholms Banco. After the liquidation of that bank, caused by the over-issue of notes, the Riksbank in 1668 founded a new bank, Riksens Standers Bank (the Bank of the Estates of the Realm), now known as Sveriges Riksbank (the Bank of Sweden). This bank was initially prohibited by its statutes from issuing notes, but from the very year of its inception the public, against the will of the Bank, used certain papers intended for the internal operation of the Bank as substitute bank notes, and in 1701 the Bank introduced instruments of payment out of which bank notes proper subsequently developed.     

Introduction

Abstract

The Scandinavian Economic History Review was started 50 years ago in 1952 albeit the first issue did not appear until the summer of 1953. Professor Ernst Söder-lund of the University of Stockholm was the initiator and first editor of the journal. According to Söderlund's words in the first issue: “The Scandinavian Economic History Review has a dual purpose to fulfill: the publication of the research of Scandinavian historians and that of other historians whose subjects lie within the field of Scandinavian economic and social history. Despite the difficulties inherent in the presentation of material concerned with local and national institutions for which there are no foreign counterparts and for which-the terminology of a foreign language is understandably deficient, we regard the international nature of social and economic history as a sufficient reason for attempting the publication of this journal in an international language.”¹     

Economic fluctuations in Sweden in 1919–1921

Abstract

In August and September 1918 the military successes of the Western Powers had a marked effect on the foreign exchange market in Stockholm and conditions subsequently remained unstable, reflecting the fluctuations in the political outlook. Even the Reichsmark rate showed some improvement at first, though this was shortlived and rapidly changed to a steady decline. The dollar and pound rates on the other hand experienced a rise of a more extensive and lasting character. In August the average rate for the dollar was 2.82 and by November it had reached 3.57. The dollar rate averaged 3.96 in 1919, 4.92 in 1920 and 4.46 in 1921. The average figures for: the pound were 13.40 in August 1918 and 16.90 in November, 17.45 for the year 1919, 17.93 for 1920 and 17.12 for 1921.²     

The state and economic development in Haiti and the Dominican Republic

Abstract

In the search for a “development theory”, during the 1950s and 1960s economists on the whole gave only limited consideration to the behavior of the state. Interest was mainly focused on the role of such factors as capital accumulation, education, transfer of technology, trade strategies etc in the development process. When the state entered the analysis, emphasis was usually put on its positive contribution to development: the state provides infrastructure and overhead capital, it corrects for externalities and designs overall development plans.¹     

The monetary history of Rome

Abstract

The internationally-renowned Swedish historian, Professor Sture Bolin, has devoted himself, ever since his youth, to the problems of monetary history and to the study of coinage as a historical source. His doctoral thesis on the finds of Roman coins in independent Germany ¹ Fynden av romerska mynt i det fria Germanien. appeared in 1926; it was an important work which, by using numismatic source material, contributed considerably to the understanding of the relations between the Roman Empire and the Germans. After the publication of this work he continued to study the functions of money in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and this research resulted in the publication, between 1939 and 1957, of a number of important papers. During the same period he worked steadily on a major work designed to provide a synthesis of the problems relating to the state and its currency from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The first volume of this work, State and Currency in the Roman Empire to 300 A.D. ² Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm, 1958, p. 357, 45 Sw. Kr. , has now been published. The book is the product of a lifelong study of a central theme of economic history, and it unquestionably justifies the great efforts expended on it. It is a work of genius, epoch-making in its field, throwing completely new light upon Roman monetary history, and marking a culminating point in this branch of study.