| 1. |
- Bengtsson, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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The economic effects of the 1920 eight-hour working day reform in Sweden
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Economic History Review. - : Routledge. - 0358-5522 .- 1750-2837. ; 65:2, s. 149-168
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In 1920, the working day in Swedish manufacturing and services was cut from 10 to 8 hours without wages being cut correspondingly. Since workers demanded and got the same daily wage working 8 hours as they had with 10, real hourly wages increased dramatically; they were about 50% higher in 1921–1922 than they had been in 1919. This is the largest wage push in Swedish history, and this paper studies the consequences for profits, investments, capital intensity and unemployment. In traded manufacturing employers responded by increasing capital intensity and did not compensate for rising wages by raising prices, which led to a combination of jobless growth and low profit rates in the 1920s. Firms in non-traded manufacturing and services could raise prices and conserve profitability to a higher degree. In total, the effects of the reform were pro-labour. We discuss the implications for our understanding of interwar wages and employment, the literature on the decrease in inequality found in most industrial countries around 1920 and the rise of the ‘Swedish model’ in the 1920s and 1930s.
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| 2. |
- Berger, Thor, et al.
(författare)
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Social Mobility in Sweden before the Welfare State
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Economic History. - : Cambridges Institutes Press. - 0022-0507 .- 1471-6372. ; 83:2, s. 431-463
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We use historical census data to show that Sweden exhibited high levels of intergenerational occupational mobility several decades before the rise of the welfare state. Mobility rates were higher than in other nineteenth- and twentieth-century European countries, closer to those observed in the highly mobile nineteenth-century United States. We leverage mobility variation across Swedish municipalities to shed light on potential determinants: economic growth and migration are positively correlated with mobility, consistent with the patterns observed across countries.
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| 3. |
- Ericsson, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Economic Growth and the Development of Real Wages : Swedish Construction Workers' Wages in Comparative Perspective, 1831–1900
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Economic History. - 0022-0507 .- 1471-6372. ; 80:3, s. 813-852
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using new and uniquely detailed data, we examine how construction workers’ wages in Sweden developed between 1831 and 1900. Wages grew rapidly from the 1850s, and comparisons with Northwestern Europe show that Swedish workers benefited more from growth than workers elsewhere. Globalization forces, most notably overseas migration, in combination with flexible and well-integrated labor markets—signified by strong regional convergence, falling skill differentials, and small urban-rural wage gaps—pushed up wages in Sweden.
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| 4. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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Arbetskostnadsandelens utveckling i Sverige
- 2013
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Ingår i: Ekonomisk Debatt. - 0345-2646. ; :7, s. 18-28
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I artikeln diskuteras arbetskostnadsandelens utveckling i det privata näringslivet i Sverige under perioden 1950 till 2007. Vi drar tre huvudsakliga slutsatser: i) arbetskostnadsandelen har sjunkit markant sedan 1970-talet, ii) huruvida andelen kan anses ha fortsatt att falla sedan 1980-talet beror på om avskrivningar beaktas eller inte och iii) industrin förklarar huvuddelen av den lägre arbetskostnadsandelen. Det är svårt att säga något bestämt om vilka faktorer som har varit avgörande, men några faktorer framstår som mer troliga. Kapitalintensitetens utveckling förefaller vara den enskilt viktigaste förklaringen. Globaliseringen och lönebildningen kan också ha spelat en roll, men det tidsmässiga förloppet skapar frågetecken på den punkten.
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| 5. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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Did industrialisation lead to segregation in cities of the nineteenth century? : The case of Uppsala 1880-1900
- 2020
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Economic History Review. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0358-5522 .- 1750-2837. ; 68:1, s. 23-44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- How did industrialisation affect land use and residential patterns in cities of the nineteenth century? We use census data and GIS mapping techniques to analyse class segregation and changes to the spatial structure using the case of Uppsala, Sweden between 1880 and 1900. We find that there was a clear concentration of business activity in the central district and in proximity to the transportation hubs. Since these activities became more numerous but remained concentrated, they likely increased land values in the central areas of the city, inducing the lowest social classes to locate away from the centre. However, while these households were pushed out, it did not result in the type of class segregation we observe in many twentieth-century cities. Before the widespread use of transport technologies allowing populations to sprawl, city expansion in the type of middle-sized city that we study led instead to increased density and mixed uses in the central areas.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-
(författare)
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How effective are mobility subsidies in targeting the unemployed? : Lessons from the Swedish Model, 1965–1975
- 2022
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Ingår i: Economic and Industrial Democracy. - : Sage Publications. - 0143-831X .- 1461-7099. ; 43:4, s. 1724-1746
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Swedish Model on the labor market has been celebrated as a way to combine mobility with low unemployment and small wage gaps. As part of the model, relocation allowances were pioneered from the late 1950s. The program expanded thereafter and as much as 1% of the population in the high-unemployment north moved with assistance in the 1960s. Today, migration incentives are discussed to address pressing unemployment problems in Europe and the United States. What can Sweden’s experience tell us about the prospects of such programs? This article studies the usage of relocation allowances through a case study of Västernorrland County from 1965 to 1975. The analysis shows that there was a strong selection into the program by younger persons, recent graduates and from sectors with good employment prospects. The experience from Sweden highlights the difficulty of implementing programs to induce migration for those with the highest risk of unemployment.
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| 8. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-
(författare)
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Implementing National Structural Change at the Local Level : The Case of Relocation Allowances in Västernorrland, 1965–1975
- 2017
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Swedish model was built on the notion that mobility from high- to low-unemployment areas could be achieved without large wage differentials if active labor market policy was used to aid in the movements across places. While Sweden pioneered the use of relocation allowances on a large scale in the late 1950s, very little is known about the actual implementation of this program. Its role during the large out-migrations from northern Sweden during the 1960s is especially underresearched. In this essay, I study the usage of the program through a case study of Västernorrland county from 1965 to 1975. The analysis shows that in the 1960s there was a strong selection into the program by younger persons, newly examined students and from certain sectors. After 1970, there was a shift in government policy with the aim of reducing the outflow of migrants from the northern counties and to keep allowance migration within counties. Between 1970 and 1975 there was also a drop in both regular and allowance out-migration by 20 %. Within the group of allowance migrants, however, there was no change in the likelihood of staying within Västernorrland after controlling for age, sex and occupation. The share of out-migrations that took place with support from the program also remained constant at 20 %. This suggests that the decline in out-migration was probably not caused by lower mobility but was rather more likely the consequence of structural change and alterations to public policy after 1970, which improved the labor market situation in the northern counties.
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| 9. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-
(författare)
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Interregional Migration, Wages and Labor Market Policy : Essays on the Swedish Model in the Postwar Period
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Swedish model is perceived as a successful framework for combining rapid labor market adjustment with low inequality. Formulated by Gösta Rehn and Rudolf Meidner and implemented from the 1950s, it has been associated with the peak in economic restructuring and interregional migration during the 1960s. However, there is little empirical evidence for this. This thesis consists of an introduction and four essays. It explores three aspects of the model from a long-run perspective: interregional migration, wage dispersion and labor market policy.Essay I uses new data to track interregional migration rates in the postwar period (1945-1985). The results show that the responsiveness of interregional migration to local labor market conditions remained stable over time; it was neither higher during the 1960s nor lower when migration declined after 1970.Essay II employs a regression-decomposition framework to analyze the evolution of wage dispersion. The results suggest that wage dispersion was stable from centralized bargaining’s introduction in 1956 to the late 1960s. Afterwards, there was a rapid decline, likely because of solidaristic bargaining.Essay III contrasts the implementation of the active labor market policy to regional policy. Following a decisive shift around 1970, the focus on north to south mobility was replaced with policies to stimulate northern employment. Declining rural support for the Social Democrats and electoral competition from the Center Party caused this shift.Finally, Essay IV is a case study about mobility subsidy usage in Västernorrland County using sources on relocation allowances from 1965, 1970 and 1975. The results indicate that in the 1960s there was strong selection into the program by young persons with good labor market prospects. However, the program’s use did not change after the regional policy shift in the early 1970s.The collective results suggest that the policies associated with the Swedish model were minor for economic restructuring patterns. The migrations of the 1960s and the decline in regional disruptions after 1970 should instead be explained by studying the consequences of structural changes, how regions were progressively affected differently and the possible role that government policies played in directing demand for labor across space.
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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More Power to the People : Electricity Adoption, Technological Change, and Labor Conflict
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Economic History. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0022-0507 .- 1471-6372. ; 81:2, s. 481-512
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Will technical change spur conflicts in the labor market? In this study, we examine electricity adoption in Sweden during the first decades of the twentieth century. Exploiting that proximity to hydropowered plants shaped the electricity network independently of previous local conditions, we estimate the impact of electricity on labor strikes. Our results indicate that electricity adoption preceded an increase in conflicts, but strikes were of an offensive nature and most common in sectors with increasing labor demand. This suggests that electrification provided workers with a stronger bargaining position from which they could voice their claims.
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| 12. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-
(författare)
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Regional Wages, Economic Restructuring and the Solidaristic Wage Policy in Sweden
- 2017
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The solidaristic wage policy in Sweden, negotiated by peak organizations on the labor market between 1956 and 1983, has been associated with a decrease in wage differences across regions, leading to the interregional migration flows that culminated during the 1960s. While the effects of the solidaristic wage policy have been widely discussed, there is little evidence on the actual evolution of regional wages and its effect on economic restructuring, especially before the 1970s. Using new regional wage data, I examine the evolution of wage dispersion and analyze the changes using a regression-decomposition framework. The results show that wage inequality was stable before 1968, then it rapidly declined. According to the decomposition, this decline was also likely the result of deliberate union policy. However, the wage policy cannot explain the height of regional restructuring in the 1960s since it is unlikely to have affected the wage structure at the time.
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| 13. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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The Effect of a Massive Wage Push on Income Distribution and Employment : Evidence from the 1920 Eight-Hour Workday Reform in Sweden and Its Aftermath
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In 1920, the working day in Swedish industry and services was cut from 10 to 8 hours without wages being cut correspondingly. This change resulted in a dramatic wage push, with real wages increasing by about 50 percent in the years from 1919 to the deflation of 1921–22. This paper studies the consequences of this wage push for real wages, unemployment, profits and investments. Since agriculture was not affected by the reform, we compare industry and services with agriculture to separate the effects of the reform from other factors. Furthermore, we distinguish between traded and non-traded sectors. We show that real wage effects were significant but that firms in non-traded industries and services faced more inelastic labour demand and thus could conserve profitability to a higher degree. In traded industries, on the other hand, wages relative to profits increased dramatically, and employers responded by increasing capital intensity, leading to jobless growth in the 1920s but continued low profits. We discuss the implications for the literature on interwar wages and employment, the more general inequality literature and the literature on the ‘Swedish model’.
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| 14. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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The Power Resource Theory Revisited: What Explains the Decline in Industrial Conflicts in Sweden?
- 2018
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper revisits the Power Resource Theory by testing one of its more influential claims: the relation between the strength of the labor movement and the reduction of industrial conflicts. Using panel data techniques to analyze more than 2,000 strikes in 103 Swedish towns we test whether a shift in the balance of power towards Social Democratic rule was associated with fewer strikes. The focus is on the formative years between the first general election in 1919 and the famous Saltsjöbaden Agreement in 1938, the period when Sweden went from a country of fierce labor conflicts to a state of industrial peace. The spatial dimension provides new possibilities to test the theory. We find that Social Democratic power reduced strike activity, but only in towns where union presence was strong. Powerful unions in themselves did not reduce local strike activity. On the contrary, we find that the rise of the Social Democratic Party in municipal governments offset about 45 percent of the estimated effect of growing union presence on industrial conflicts. We do not see any significant tangible concessions in terms of increased social spending by local governments after a left-wing victory as predicted by Power Resource Theory. Instead the mechanism leading to fewer strikes appears to be related to corporatist explanations.
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| 15. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-
(författare)
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Wage differentials, economic restructuring and the solidaristic wage policy in Sweden
- 2019
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Ingår i: European Review of Economic History. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1361-4916 .- 1474-0044. ; 23:1, s. 97-121
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Swedish model has been seen as way to combine rapid growth with small wage gaps. The solidaristic wage policy negotiated by peak organizations between 1956 and 1983 was designed to induce restructuring by reducing wage differences across the economy. Several authors have linked this to decreased wage dispersion and rapid structural change, especially during the 1960s. However, there is disagreement on when the policy started to affect dispersion and little evidence exist before the 1970s. Using new wage data, I examine differentials using a regression–decomposition framework. The results show that inequality was stable before the late-1960s but declined rapidly thereafter. According to the decomposition, the decline in the 1970s was the likely result of deliberate union policy while developments in the 1960s were unrelated to union action. In contrast to what some authors have argued, this study shows that decreased wage dispersion coincided with a fall in growth and structural change.
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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What can the State do for you? : Relocation Allowances and Regional Subsidies in Post-War Sweden
- 2017
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of History. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0346-8755 .- 1502-7716. ; 42:3, s. 273-298
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has been suggested that Swedish policy during the early postwar period was strongly directed towards mobility increasing expenditures, most notably relocation allowances, aimed at moving labor from north to south. While this view has dominated the academic discussion on labor market policy there is little direct evidence. We make three claims. First, the relocation allowances have to be evaluated against the regional policy. Second, by doing so we show that the mobility oriented policy was predominant only for a short period of time. In the early 1970s, there was a decisive shift towards a policy directed at stimulating employment in the north. Third, drawing on this, we reevaluate the previous view on policy making in Sweden. Our analysis suggests that the Social Democratic government acted in a voter maximizing way. The relocation allowances were introduced at the behest of the Trade Union Confederation (LO). The regional subsidies were expanded when voter sentiment turned against the perceived depletion of rural regions. However, this strategy interacted with the political and institutional environment. The new election law in 1970 and political competition from the Center Party pushed the Social Democrats to shift their policies on regional subsidies.
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-
(författare)
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Why did Swedish regional net migration rates fall in the 1970s? : The role of policy changes versus structural change, 1945–1985
- 2018
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Economic History Review. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0358-5522 .- 1750-2837. ; 66:1, s. 91-115
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The relationship between local labour market conditions and regional migration has been widely discussed within research. In Sweden, where interregional migration reached a peak in the 1960s but decreased substantially in the 1970s, the role of economic policy has been especially contended in light of the Swedish model and its official stress on regional mobility. By collecting and creating a new and unique dataset on net-migration, vacancy rates, employment and labour income by county, the pattern of interregional migration in Sweden is analysed over a period of time that also covers the early postwar period (1945– 1985), allowing for a detailed evaluation of the drivers of migration at different times. My results suggest that there was no significant change over time in the responsiveness of migration to local labour market conditions. The changing patterns of regional migration were therefore more likely the result of changes in the pace and direction of structural change. I discuss the implications of these results for previous accounts of the Swedish model and of the decline in migration after 1970.
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| 20. |
- Molinder, Jakob, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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Women's work and wages in the sixteenth century and Sweden's position in the ‘little divergence’
- 2023
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Ingår i: Economic history review. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0013-0117 .- 1468-0289. ; 76:1, s. 145-168
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We use a unique source from the Swedish royaldemesnesto examine the work and relative wages of women insixteenth-century Sweden, an economic laggard in theearly modern period. The source pertains to workers hiredon yearly contracts, a type more representative of histori-cal labour markets than day labour on large constructionsites, and this allows us to observe directly the food con-sumed by workers. We speak to the debate on the ‘littledivergence’ within Europe, as women’s work and genderdifferentials in pay is a key indicator of women’s relativeautonomy and seen as a cause for the economic ascen-dency of the North Sea region during the period. Wefind small gender differentials among both unskilled andskilled workers, indicating that Sweden was a part of the‘golden age’ for women. We argue that despite superficialequality, women’s economic outlooks were restrained inmany other ways – including their access to higher-skilledwork and jobs in the expanding parts of the economy –adding important nuance to the discussion about the rela-tionship between women’s social position and economicgrowth in the early modern period
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