Economic Growth and the Swedish Model

Magnus Henrekson (), Lars Jonung () and Joakim Stymne

No 901, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We examine the growth performance of Sweden in the post-World War II period, focusing on explaining the relative decline of economic growth in Sweden since the early 1970's. The hypothesis that the relative decline is a consequence of productivity catch-up is rejected. A number of potential `ultimate' causes behind the slowdown are explored. An increasingly inefficient process of capital formation; a shrinking share of the economy being exposed to international competition; long-run negative effects of activist stabilization policies; rapid growth of the public sector; deteriorating incentives for human capital formation; and weak incentives for implementing the results of R&D efforts are all part of the story. The evidence suggests that the incentive structure created by `the Swedish model' made Sweden less successful in adapting to the shocks of the 1970's and 1980's than other OECD countries.

Keywords: Catching Up; Convergence; Economic Growth; Human Capital; Productivity; Welfare State (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O1 O52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994-03
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=901 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: Economic Growth and the Swedish Model (1994)
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:cpr:ceprdp:901

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.cepr.org/ ... pers/dp.php?dpno=901

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().