Growth Barriers in Preindustrial Sweden

There have been many explanations for why Sweden went from being a poor developing country to one of the most developed countries in the world between 1860 and 1960. Few of these have pointed at political institutions as a key factor. In this project, we show that the implementation of an important political institution (formal plutocracy) played a decisive role in the transformation of Sweden. Plutocracy undermined the previous hegemony of landowners, and Sweden could start its industrial revolution.