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- Box, Marcus
(författare)
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New Venture, Survival, Growth : Continuance, Termination and Growth of Business Firms and Business Populations in Sweden During the 20th Century
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation focuses on the formation, growth and discontinuance of business populations and firms in Sweden during the 20th century. It addresses some key issues in the domain of economic and social sciences, and in particular entrepreneurship and small business research: if and when firms grow, stagnate and decline, as well as how long firms survive and when they are likely to disband. Previous research has primarily analyzed these questions from a short time frame. Further, an individual or firm-oriented focus is commonly assumed. In that, alternative or complementary explanations to the growth and survival of firms may be disregarded. In contrast to much previous research, this dissertation assumes a micro-to-macro, longitudinal and demographic population approach. The period of investigation is over one hundred years. In addressing the growth and survival of firms, it takes into account the impact of firm-specific structural factors (such as firm age and size), generation (cohort) effects, as well as the influence of macroeconomic, exogenous factors. Further, the relationship between managerial/ownership succession and firm performance is also addressed. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal databases are employed in the dissertation. Its main empirical material consists of unique longitudinal data on new business firms, traced at the firm level from their birth to their termination. More specifically, seven birth cohorts – generations – of approximately 2,200 firms founded in 1899, 1909, 1912, 1921, 1930, 1942 and 1950 are included. The main findings show that ownership/management succession in firms had a quite weak correlation with firm performance and survival. At least at an aggregate level, and with some exceptions, it is debatable if the loss and replacement of owner-managers in small and in larger firms have any observable effects on firm performance. Furthermore, macroeconomic phenomena influence the conditions of individual firms as well as populations/aggregates of businesses. Both the growth and termination of firms and firm populations are found to be related to real economic (environmental) conditions; e.g. favorable macroeconomic conditions implied that firms grew in size. At the same time, under certain circumstances, the influence of structural variables (firm age and size) – as suggested in much previous research – is found to be of importance. As concerns firm growth, as well as firm termination, the economic environment and structural factors interact. These findings challenges individual or firm-level research that mainly focus on personal traits and behaviors in explaining firm success and failure. Other previous assumptions are also challenged when taking a longer time perspective into consideration. For decades, organization and business research have acknowledged a liability of newness and of size for business firms. While this might be true under some conditions, this liability of newness is falsified in the study: the termination behavior of some firm generations did not correspond with these assumptions. Thus, the perspectives and methodology applied in the dissertation complement earlier approaches in entrepreneurship and small business research.
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| 2. |
- Ahnland, Lars, 1974-
(författare)
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Financialization in Swedish Capitalism : Debt, inequality and crisis in Sweden, 1900-2013
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation adresses financialization – the increasing role of financial activities in the overall economy – in Sweden in 1900-2013. The focus is on the long run relationships between private debt, asset markets, inequality and financial crisis during this period. In line with established scholarship, the present study finds that changes in bank debt had a positive impact on the probability of financial crisis in Sweden. Functional income distribution between profits and wages was an underlying factor influencing the formation of bank debt levels through its impact on collateral in stock markets. Expenses related to the Swedish welfare state – the size of the public sector, government investment and housing construction – had a long run relationship with the wage share. The welfare state has been an effective counter-measure not just against a high profit share, but also against financialization. Moreover, the dissertation shows that the recent era of financialization in Swedish capitalism is not unique in kind. Rather, recent financialization is very similar to the macroeconomic situation during the early decades of the 20th Century. These findings are consistent with much of heterodox economic theory, in particular the Neo-Marxist approach.
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| 3. |
- Andersson, Hans, 1950-
(författare)
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"Androm till varnagel-" : det tidigmoderna Stockholms folkliga rättskultur i ett komparativt perspektiv
- 1998
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The basic concept for my research is legal culture. Thus I do not confine my study to what has been labelled "historical criminology", but also include litigation in civil cases concerning economic conflicts. Though quantitative analysis is a necessary preliminary step, the focus of my interest lies in attitudes and values, mainly of the lower classes. The study of popular legal culture in Stockholm 1620-1720 is viewed in a comparative perspective with Chester and Bremen, two cities with legal systems belonging to the two main judicial traditions of Europe.At the basis of any theory of culture and cultural change should be the assumption that there is a relation between culture and the power structure in the society where that culture is situated. But power is not only the determinant of culture, legal culture also includes the way that power is structured, and the ways it is exercised. In the field of legal culture the main change with respect to power in the period I have examined is what has been labelled the judicial revolution. This concept is related to the process of the state taking control over legal system and establishing a monopoly of violence in society.Two main features may be discerned in the change of criminal pattern of Stockholm during the period 1620-1720. There is a distinct fall of the frequency of lethal violence and a rise of female criminality. In fact the early eighteenth century Stockholm is the only case known where more women than men are indicted and sentenced.The comparative study focuses on how the legal tradition coexists with different political and economic systems and with differences in the legal culture: values and attitudes concerning the law, especially the code of honour, which from a Swedish point of view seems to be a crucial element in the popular legal culture, the education and backgrund of the judges and lawyers as well as the participation of laymen in the legal system, the equality before law; the role of different kinds of argumentation in the legal discourse and finally the existence of popular sanctions outside the official system.The anglo-saxon system has maintained many arcaic and irrational elements, but on the other hand it has fostered a strong tradition of commersialization, pluralism and freedom to choose between different kind of courts, which may have aided the developement of a capitalistic economy. In Bremen the bürger-elite stayed in control of the political power, working for the autonomy of the city. But at the same time the city council gave place to a large number of judicially trained members and ranged itsef within the legal system of the empire.
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| 4. |
- Andersson Raeder, Johanna, 1964-
(författare)
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Hellre hustru än änka : Äktenskapets ekonomiska betydelse för frälsekvinnor i senmedeltidens Sverige
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation studies the economic partnership between husband and wife amongst the Swedish nobility during the fifteenth century. Medieval marriages have been seen as an institution that first and foremost was economically and socially beneficial to men. The dissertation aims to broaden this view by emphasizing the marriages’ importance to women’s economic agency within the prevailing patriarchal structure of medieval society.Through arranged marriages noble families formed political and social networks in order to uphold and secure their positions. In scholarly literature the role of women is often reduced to being a link between men, the father and the husband, enabling property transfers between lineages. This dissertation describes how spouses circumvented the regulations of inheritance to benefit each other and their conjugal family. Furthermore, it discusses how these strategies were economically advantageous for married women whilst sustaining the patriarchal structure.The legal status of women changed when they became widows, and it has often been pointed out that widows had opportunities and agency that neither unmarried nor married women had. The autonomy that women gained when they married was conditional on the guardianship of her husband. The widow had no guardian, thus being her own mistress. However, based on the high rate of remarriage amongst noble widows this dissertation argues that widow’s legal freedom to handle economic and juridical matters was considerably constrained within the existing gender system. Furthermore, it argues that remarried women’s freedom of action was larger than that of widows. Hence, marriage offered the possibility of forming an economic partnership with a man that represented their conjugal estate in economic transactions.
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| 5. |
- Bergfeldt, Börje, 1964-
(författare)
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Den teokratiska statens död : sekularisering och civilisering i 1700-talets Stockholm
- 1997
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The point of departure for this dissertation is the discussion of the history of civilisation that has been held in the wake of the German sociologist and historian, Norbert Elias. One of the most radical changes in our society during the last 250 years, and at the same time one of the most fundamental aspects of the civilising process, is secularization. From having been the only true School, Christianity became one of several philosophies of life. This change has been explained in different ways by researchers in cultural history and the history of mentalities. Roughly, you can talk about two different types of explanations, or perspectives; one vertical and one horizontal. I agree with the horizontal perspective, i.e. the conclusion that both the civilising process in general and the secularization, at least in some parts, must be seen as a result of man`s own activities, rather than disciplining actions from above.A study of the administration of justice and the efficiency of the church's punishment regarding fornification (lägersmål), sexual intercourse between unmarried individuals, tells us that one of the most important reasons that extra-marital intercourse received milder punishments, was that the religious grounds for legitimising punishment had declined during the second half of the century.Another study investigates how the church handled the most central cult-ceremony; the sacrament of communion. Several of the inhabitants of Stockholm were no longer behaving according to religiously accepted patterns of living during the 18th century. Concurrently with this, women came to play a more active role in the public life of the church.The "power", i.e. the upholders of the religious life, does not always have to react in a aggressive way. Through research on religious literature, you can establish that the "power" rather met competing patterns of thought in a passive way.At least in some parts the spiritual or mental secularization was parallell to an institutional secularization of the church as an organisation. A study of the accounts for three parishes i Stockholm during the period 1754 to 1800, shows a long-term declining trend in real income.
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| 8. |
- Carlén, Stefan, 1964-
(författare)
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Staten som marknadens salt : en studie i institutionsbildning, kollektivt handlande och tidig välfärdspolitik på en strategisk varumarknad i övergången mellan merkantilism och liberalism 1720-1862
- 1997
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation studies public institutional arrangements on the Swedish salt market 1720-1862. Crucial issues are how an why these arrangements emerged and were changed as well as they were used. The arrangements were erected in order to realize economic and social goals. In this respect, the policy persued by the Swedish government differed from those of most other governments, where policies concerning salt primarily meant tax policies. Government policies in Sweden were firstly external and had a long-term orientation. The aim was to import as much salt as possible to Sweden. The government also pursued a short-term policy in order to cope with short-term shorages. Overall, these policies were successful. Contrary to what has been stated in earlier Swedish research, the protectionist shipping policies did not lead to shortages of salt and high saltprices. Instead, the Swedish shipping and freight manufacture was stimulated, and Sweden became independent of foreign merchant fleets. The mercantilist aim of building a large merchant fleet, independent of potential enemy nations, was achieved without any negative effects on prices or supply on the Swedish salt market.Shortages of salt were not caused by a generally low yearly supply of salt. On the contrary, Sweden consistently had a surplus of salt and re-exported every year salt to other countries. The shortages of salt was rather regional and temporary, due to unexpected shocks on the supply side (wars, buccaneering, shipwrecks, persistent head winds, crises of production) and on the demand side (abundant fishing, cattle diseases and forced slaughter etc.). Costly and slow transports and communication meant that unexpected shortages could not be solved through trade. To solve these problems different institutional arrangements were created. These arrangements emerged in an evolutionary process of institutional change characterized by significant random elements. Severe shortages caused large changes in relative prices which acted as triggering factors in the process of institutional formation.Three more elaborated institutional arrangements having welfare purpuses were established, but disappeared in a rather short time. In 1774 a system of State Salt Stores were established in all staple towns. This arrangement proved to be very efficient as an insurance system, and the Salt Stores were frequently used to avert temporary shortages until new cargos of salt had arrived. The active state policy was a prerequisite for the markets to function satisfactory under mercantilism. But public stockpiling came to an end because the need for this insurance services diminished. But new technologies in saltproduction and shipping, increases in security and improved communications, a more efficiently-functioning market structure caused a significant long run decline i saltprices in relation to other prices and wages. Consequently, the need for public arrangements on the saltmarket decreased.
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| 9. |
- Edvinsson, Rodney, 1971-
(författare)
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Growth, Accumulation, Crisis : With New Macroeconomic Data for Sweden 1800-2000
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation has two main objectives. The first one is to construct historical macroeconomic series for Sweden using a consistent method throughout the relevant periods, and which rely on modern methods of national accounting. The second objective is to investigate patterns of economic growth, accumulation and crisis in Sweden 1800-2000, based on the constructed data series. New annual data series of Gross Domestic Product and its division into activities (type of production) and expenditures (consumption, investment and foreign trade), Net Domestic Product, stocks of produced assets and consumption of fixed assets are constructed for the period 1800-2000; series of employment, wages, imputed labour income of self employed and surplus for the period 1850-2000; and series of worked hours for the period 1950-2000. Summary tables of the main aggregate variables are presented at the end of the dissertation. The intent is to make the data material available online (also at a more disaggregated level) at: http://www.historia.se. Although the present study criticises the somewhat deterministic vision of many long cycle theories, it also demonstrates that the concept of long cycle can be applied when studying long-term fluctuations in GDP per capita, provided that the notion of a fixed periodicity of long cycles is abandoned. Long-term economic fluctuations are irregular, but so is also the short-term business cycle. Different historical tendencies and trends are investigated. The decline of the relative size of industrial activities in the last half of 20th century was not as dramatic, if unpaid household labour is considered and that many services are industry-related. The Marxist theory of a Tendency for the Rate of Profit to Fall is partly confirmed as a secular process up to the 1970s, but profitability has rebounded in the last two decades of the 20th century. During the 1990s, the investment ratio declined to historically low levels and the volume value of the net stock of buildings and structures fell for the first time since the 1830s. A comparison is also made of depressions in Sweden since 1850. During the 19th century, depressions were largely induced by the agricultural sector, and during the 20th century by industrial activities. However, the transition to the modern business cycle was not sudden but rather protracted. Another finding is that the 1990s depression was somewhat deeper than the 1930s depression in terms of GDP contraction.
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