Description
Book SynopsisThis book explores the development of economic thought in Sweden through some of the people who shaped it. The book highlights both some of the well-known contributions and some overlooked areas of research. It begins with the origins of the pioneer neoclassical Heckscher-Ohlin theorem and Gunnar Myrdal ’s circular, cumulative approach to economic development. Secondly, it focuses on a number of economists related to the Industrial Institute of Economic and Social Research: Ingvar Svennilson, Axel Iveroth, Jan Wallander, Erik Höök, Villy Bergström and Rolf Henriksson. Finally, it offers portraits of three economists from Lund University: Bo Södersten, Ingemar Ståhl and Göte Hansson. The work of all of them is placed within the context of the contemporary academic and public economic debate. This book aims at providing a perspective on the legacy of the Swedish tradition in economics and will be relevant to students and academics interested in the history of economic thought.
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction: Twelve Figures in Swedish Economics.- Chapter 2: The Inspiration for the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem.- Chapter 3: Gunnar Myrdal on Poverty and Circular, Cumulative Causation.- Chapter 4: Ingvar Svennilson on Economic Planning in War and Peace.- Chapter 5: From the Western Front: Axel Iveroth in Washington.- Chapter 6: From the New World: Ingvar Svennilson in the United States and Cuba.- Chapter 7: ‘Well, But in Those Days, Booze Was Cheap’: Jan Wallander in the Värmland Forests.- Chapter 8: ‘Like Locusts on the Mississippi’: A Pioneer Study of the Expansion of the Swedish Public Sector.- Chapter 9: The Political Economy of Bo Södersten.- Chapter 10: Rolf G.H. Henriksson: Portrait of an Economist.- Chapter 11: The Peasant Oppressor from Norra Fäladen: Ingemar Ståhl and the Regulation of Swedish Agriculture.- Chapter 12: My Friend Villy.- Chapter 13: Social Clauses, Harmonization and Transition Economies: The World of Göte Hansson.
