China's Growth and Its Effects on the Swedish Economy

The economic map has been changing and the focus has been on East Asia in general and China in particular. This in turn has lead to the links between the Swedish economy and developments in Asia being strengthened. In particular, Swedish-Chinese relations have increased dramatically; most Swedish multinational companies today have business activity in China; China is the fastest growing market for a large number of Swedish companies and China is Sweden's largest trading partner in Asia. At the same time, large differences in culture, geography and economic-political systems mean that the general knowledge of Asia is relatively low in Sweden. This project aimed to examine China's economic development and to examine how this development affects the Swedish economy, companies and workers. With regard to developments in China, we focused on aspects of a structural shift away from export-led growth to an increasing importance of domestic consumption. With regard to the direct effects on the Swedish economy, we studied how Swedish exports to China and Swedish investments in China affect the structure of Swedish business activity. We also launched a sub-project that instead examined how the sharply increased imports from China affect Swedish business activity.