Locomotives of Local Growth: The Short- and Long-Term Impact of Railroads in Sweden

Thor Berger and Kerstin Enflo

No 42, Working Papers from European Historical Economics Society (EHES)

Abstract: This paper uses city-level data to examine the impact of a first wave of railroad construction in Sweden, between 1855 and 1870, from the 19th century until today. We estimate that railroads accounted for 50% of urban growth, 1855-1870. In cities with access to the railroad network, property values were higher, manufacturing employment increased, establishments were larger, and more information was distributed through local post offices. Today, cities with early access to the network are 62% larger and to be found 11 steps higher in the urban hierarchy, compared to initially similar cities. We hypothesize that railroads set in motion a path dependent process that shapes the economic geography of Sweden today.

Keywords: Railroads; Industrialization; Urban Growth; Path Dependence. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N73 N93 R12 R40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2013-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-his and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ehes.org/wp/EHES_No42.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Locomotives of local growth: The short- and long-term impact of railroads in Sweden (2017)
Working Paper: Locomotives of Local Growth: The Short- and Long-Term Impact of Railroads in Sweden (2014)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hes:wpaper:0042

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from European Historical Economics Society (EHES) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Paul Sharp ().