The Economic Life of Sweden

Through the bounty of natural wealth, forests and ores, rivers and waterfalls, the people of Sweden have attained a standard of living higher than in most other countries. The resources are indispensable, but the modern productive economy based on them was achieved only by hard and unrelenting labor and in battle with a severe climate. It is impossible to explain the standing of the steel and wood products industries, for example, without some knowledge of the indisputable technical and organizational talents of the people. Experience has demonstrated that it is difficult for a country without, domestic coal deposits to establish iron and steel industries. Sweden is perhaps the only country in the world which has been able to maintain them without a foundation of domestic coal, and this is due in large degree to the high quality of the product based on domestic inventions and an able labor force. The skill of entrepreneurs and engineers has also played a decisive role in the growth of the wood products industries. Valuable aid has come from abroad in various forms. It is worth noting, to take one example, that the country was able to enlist a small number of Walloon smiths during the seventeenth century. They provided an addition of professional skill and new working methods which placed an enduring stamp on Swedish iron making.