Social Mobility in Sweden before the Welfare State

Thor Berger, Per Engzell, Björn Eriksson and Jakob Molinder

The Journal of Economic History, 2023, vol. 83, issue 2, 431-463

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.

Date: 2023
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Working Paper: Social Mobility in Sweden Before the Welfare State (2021)
Working Paper: Social Mobility in Sweden Before the Welfare State (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:jechis:v:83:y:2023:i:2:p:431-463_4

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