Open this publication in new window or tab >>2000 (Swedish)Doctoral thesis, monograph (Other academic)
Bridge broken : Gunnar Myrdal and Sweden's post-war economic policy 1943-1947
Abstract [en]
The political project of Gunnar Myrdal in Sweden’s post-war planning is characterised and its application in different areas of economic policy in the first post-war years is analysed. His participation in the government, ending in 1947 at the time of a currency crisis, is generally regarded as a failure. A failure for what and why? These questions are addressed in a way elucidating the margins of manoeuvre open to a small European country in the transition years between the Second World War and the Cold War era.
The characterisation of the project draws on Myrdal’s personal archive, the archives of Arbetarrörelsens Fredsråd and the official Post-war Economic Planning Commission. The three case studies on the post-war policies draw on the National Bank Archive (financial and currency policy), on the archives of Sweden’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the archives of Bank of England (trade policy) and on parliamentary records and Erlander’s personal archive (monetary policy).
It is argued that Myrdal’s views on economic policy differed radically from those of Ernst Wigforss, Sweden’s Minister of Finance. Criticising assumptions about an expansionary economic policy motivated by fears of economic depression, the study shows that Sweden’s post-war financial policy actually was restrictive in intent as well as to its effects. The study of Sweden’s trade policy shows its eastward trade these years to be grossly misrepresented, its currency support of Britain’s sterling to underestimated and the American intervention in our trade policy to be earlier than generally assumed. The final study on monetary policy demonstrates the predominance of domestic consumption concerns over considerations of trade balances.
The inconsistencies of the government’s economic policy these years are finally related to Myrdal’s partial failure to get his project accepted initially and to the growing exacerbation of domestic and international tensions.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Santérus, 2000. p. 502
Series
Sverige under kalla kriget, ISSN 99-2240566-0 ; 8
Keywords
Swedish social democracy, postwar planning, financial policy, international reconstruction credits, currency policy, Sweden’s National Bank, trade policy, GATT, Sweden’s trade, Anglo-Swedish relations, Swedish- American relations, Swedish-Polish relations, Swedish-Russian trade agreement, monetary policy, industrial policy, keynesianism, international politics, Gunnar Myrdal, Ernst Wigforss, Dag Hammarskjöld., Gunnar Myrdal, Sveriges ekonomiska efterkrigspolitik
National Category
Economic History
Research subject
Economic History
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-48220 (URN)91-89449-02-9 (ISBN)
2010-12-042010-12-032022-02-24Bibliographically approved