Kerstin Enflo
Biographic Data
| ID | 1037398 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kerstin Enflo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kerstin |
| FAMILY NAME | Enflo |
| SIGNATURE | ENFLO K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lund University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9904-8957 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 84 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Power for progress: The impact of electricity on individual labor market outcomes
How does new technology impact labor market outcomes? We address this question by examining the adoption of electricity in Sweden during the early 20th century. Leveraging detailed individual-level data that covers the entire labor market and exogenous variation in electricity access driven by proximity to hydro-power plants, we estimate the impact of electrification on individual labor market outcomes. Our findings show significantly higher earn…
Reading the ransom: Methodological advancements in extracting the Swedish Wealth Tax of 1571
We describe a deep learning method to read hand-written records from the 16th century. The method consists of a combination of a segmentation module and a Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) module. The transformer-based HTR module exploits both language and image features in reading, classifying and extracting the position of each word on the page. The method is demonstrated on a unique historical document: The Swedish Wealth Tax of 1571. Results…
Social democracy and the decline of strikes
This paper tests if a strong labor movement leads to fewer industrial conflicts. The focus is on Sweden between the first general election in 1919 and the famous Saltsjöbaden Agreement in 1938, a formative period when the country transitioned from fierce labor conflicts to a state of industrial peace. We use panel data techniques to analyze more than 2000 strikes in 103 Swedish towns. We find that a shift of political majority towards the Social …
Railroads and Reform: How Trains Strengthened the Nation State
This paper examines the relationship between the coming of the railroads, the expansion of primary education, and the introduction of national school curricula. Using fine-grained data on local education outcomes in Sweden in the nineteenth century, the paper tests the idea that the development of the railroad network enabled national school inspectors to monitor remote schools more effectively. In localities to which school inspectors could trav…
Labour and the ‘law of one price’: Regional wage convergence of farm workers in Sweden, 1757–1980
Economic theory predicts that differences in wages for workers with similar skills will decline as labour mobility increase. This prediction is reminiscent of the ‘law of one price’, the notion that markets, if unfettered, eliminates price differentials of similar commodities across space. But can we really apply the economic logic of the commodity market to the labour market, governed as it is by institutions and politics as well as market force…
More Power to the People: Electricity Adoption, Technological Change, and Labor Conflict
Will technical change spur conflicts in the labor market? In this study, we examine electricity adoption in Sweden during the first decades of the twentieth century. Exploiting that proximity to hydropowered plants shaped the electricity network independently of previous local conditions, we estimate the impact of electricity on labor strikes. Our results indicate that electricity adoption preceded an increase in conflicts, but strikes were of an…
Between Malthus and the industrial take-off: Regional inequality in Sweden, 1571-1850
The causes and extent of regional inequality in the process of economic growth are at the core of historical economic research. So far, much attention has been devoted to studying the role of industrialization in driving regional divergence. However, empirical studies on relatively unequal countries such as Italy and Spain show that inequality was already high at the outset of modern industrialization. Using new estimates of Swedish regional GDP,…
Can kings create towns that thrive? The long-term implications of new town foundations
Transportation and regional inequality: The impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860–1960
Regional GDP estimates for Sweden, 1571–1850
This paper provides regional GDP estimates for the 24 Swedish regions (NUTS-3) for the benchmark year 1571 and for 11 ten-year benchmarks for the period 1750–1850. The 1571 estimates are based on tax sources and agricultural statistics. The 1750–1850 estimates are produced following the widely used methodology by Geary and Stark (2002): labour force figures from population censuses at regional level are used to allocate to regions the national es…
Locomotives of local growth: The short- and long-term impact of railroads in Sweden
Coping with regional inequality inSweden: Structural Change, Migrations, and Policy, 1860-2000
In many countries, regional income inequality has followed an invertedU-shaped curve, growing during industrialization and market integration and declining thereafter. By contrast,Sweden's regional inequality dropped from 1860 to 1980 and did not exhibit thisU-shaped pattern. Accordingly, today's regional income inequality inSweden is lower than in other European countries. We note that the prime mover behind the long-run reduction in regional in…
The role of migration in regional wage convergence: Evidence from Sweden 1860–1940
Geographical location and urbanisation of the Swedish manufacturing industry, 1900–1960: Evidence from a new database
This article introduces a new database, based on official statistics, of regional manufacturing industries in Sweden. We employ this database to examine the distribution of manufacturing activity across Swedish regions and cities, 1900–1960. Over this period we observe an increasing concentration of manufacturing activities, reaching a peak around 1940, across the northern, southern and western parts (NUTS-I areas) of Sweden. Over the same period…
Trends and cycles in regional economic growth
Electrification and energy productivity
Relative Sources of European Regional Productivity Convergence: A Bootstrap Frontier Approach
Enflo K. and Hjertstrand P. Relative sources of European regional productivity convergence: a bootstrap frontier approach, Regional Studies. This paper addresses the issue of Western European regional productivity growth and convergence by means of data envelopment analysis (DEA), decomposing labour productivity into efficiency change, technical change and capital accumulation. The decomposition shows that most regions have fallen behind the prod…
Locomotives of local growth: The short- and long-term impact of railroads in Sweden
The role of migration in regional wage convergence: Evidence from Sweden 1860–1940
Coping with regional inequality inSweden: Structural Change, Migrations, and Policy, 1860-2000
In many countries, regional income inequality has followed an invertedU-shaped curve, growing during industrialization and market integration and declining thereafter. By contrast,Sweden's regional inequality dropped from 1860 to 1980 and did not exhibit thisU-shaped pattern. Accordingly, today's regional income inequality inSweden is lower than in other European countries. We note that the prime mover behind the long-run reduction in regional in…
Railroads and Reform: How Trains Strengthened the Nation State
This paper examines the relationship between the coming of the railroads, the expansion of primary education, and the introduction of national school curricula. Using fine-grained data on local education outcomes in Sweden in the nineteenth century, the paper tests the idea that the development of the railroad network enabled national school inspectors to monitor remote schools more effectively. In localities to which school inspectors could trav…
Can kings create towns that thrive? The long-term implications of new town foundations
Trends and cycles in regional economic growth
Relative Sources of European Regional Productivity Convergence: A Bootstrap Frontier Approach
Enflo K. and Hjertstrand P. Relative sources of European regional productivity convergence: a bootstrap frontier approach, Regional Studies. This paper addresses the issue of Western European regional productivity growth and convergence by means of data envelopment analysis (DEA), decomposing labour productivity into efficiency change, technical change and capital accumulation. The decomposition shows that most regions have fallen behind the prod…
Transportation and regional inequality: The impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860–1960
Electrification and energy productivity
More Power to the People: Electricity Adoption, Technological Change, and Labor Conflict
Will technical change spur conflicts in the labor market? In this study, we examine electricity adoption in Sweden during the first decades of the twentieth century. Exploiting that proximity to hydropowered plants shaped the electricity network independently of previous local conditions, we estimate the impact of electricity on labor strikes. Our results indicate that electricity adoption preceded an increase in conflicts, but strikes were of an…
Between Malthus and the industrial take-off: Regional inequality in Sweden, 1571-1850
The causes and extent of regional inequality in the process of economic growth are at the core of historical economic research. So far, much attention has been devoted to studying the role of industrialization in driving regional divergence. However, empirical studies on relatively unequal countries such as Italy and Spain show that inequality was already high at the outset of modern industrialization. Using new estimates of Swedish regional GDP,…
Social democracy and the decline of strikes
This paper tests if a strong labor movement leads to fewer industrial conflicts. The focus is on Sweden between the first general election in 1919 and the famous Saltsjöbaden Agreement in 1938, a formative period when the country transitioned from fierce labor conflicts to a state of industrial peace. We use panel data techniques to analyze more than 2000 strikes in 103 Swedish towns. We find that a shift of political majority towards the Social …
Regional GDP estimates for Sweden, 1571–1850
This paper provides regional GDP estimates for the 24 Swedish regions (NUTS-3) for the benchmark year 1571 and for 11 ten-year benchmarks for the period 1750–1850. The 1571 estimates are based on tax sources and agricultural statistics. The 1750–1850 estimates are produced following the widely used methodology by Geary and Stark (2002): labour force figures from population censuses at regional level are used to allocate to regions the national es…
Relative Sources of European Regional Productivity Convergence: A Bootstrap Frontier Approach
Enflo K. and Hjertstrand P. Relative sources of European regional productivity convergence: a bootstrap frontier approach, Regional Studies. This paper addresses the issue of Western European regional productivity growth and convergence by means of data envelopment analysis (DEA), decomposing labour productivity into efficiency change, technical change and capital accumulation. The decomposition shows that most regions have fallen behind the prod…
Electrification and energy productivity
Trends and cycles in regional economic growth
Geographical location and urbanisation of the Swedish manufacturing industry, 1900–1960: Evidence from a new database
This article introduces a new database, based on official statistics, of regional manufacturing industries in Sweden. We employ this database to examine the distribution of manufacturing activity across Swedish regions and cities, 1900–1960. Over this period we observe an increasing concentration of manufacturing activities, reaching a peak around 1940, across the northern, southern and western parts (NUTS-I areas) of Sweden. Over the same period…
The role of migration in regional wage convergence: Evidence from Sweden 1860–1940
Coping with regional inequality inSweden: Structural Change, Migrations, and Policy, 1860-2000
In many countries, regional income inequality has followed an invertedU-shaped curve, growing during industrialization and market integration and declining thereafter. By contrast,Sweden's regional inequality dropped from 1860 to 1980 and did not exhibit thisU-shaped pattern. Accordingly, today's regional income inequality inSweden is lower than in other European countries. We note that the prime mover behind the long-run reduction in regional in…
Locomotives of local growth: The short- and long-term impact of railroads in Sweden
Transportation and regional inequality: The impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860–1960
Regional GDP estimates for Sweden, 1571–1850
This paper provides regional GDP estimates for the 24 Swedish regions (NUTS-3) for the benchmark year 1571 and for 11 ten-year benchmarks for the period 1750–1850. The 1571 estimates are based on tax sources and agricultural statistics. The 1750–1850 estimates are produced following the widely used methodology by Geary and Stark (2002): labour force figures from population censuses at regional level are used to allocate to regions the national es…
Can kings create towns that thrive? The long-term implications of new town foundations
Between Malthus and the industrial take-off: Regional inequality in Sweden, 1571-1850
The causes and extent of regional inequality in the process of economic growth are at the core of historical economic research. So far, much attention has been devoted to studying the role of industrialization in driving regional divergence. However, empirical studies on relatively unequal countries such as Italy and Spain show that inequality was already high at the outset of modern industrialization. Using new estimates of Swedish regional GDP,…
Labour and the ‘law of one price’: Regional wage convergence of farm workers in Sweden, 1757–1980
Economic theory predicts that differences in wages for workers with similar skills will decline as labour mobility increase. This prediction is reminiscent of the ‘law of one price’, the notion that markets, if unfettered, eliminates price differentials of similar commodities across space. But can we really apply the economic logic of the commodity market to the labour market, governed as it is by institutions and politics as well as market force…
More Power to the People: Electricity Adoption, Technological Change, and Labor Conflict
Will technical change spur conflicts in the labor market? In this study, we examine electricity adoption in Sweden during the first decades of the twentieth century. Exploiting that proximity to hydropowered plants shaped the electricity network independently of previous local conditions, we estimate the impact of electricity on labor strikes. Our results indicate that electricity adoption preceded an increase in conflicts, but strikes were of an…
Social democracy and the decline of strikes
This paper tests if a strong labor movement leads to fewer industrial conflicts. The focus is on Sweden between the first general election in 1919 and the famous Saltsjöbaden Agreement in 1938, a formative period when the country transitioned from fierce labor conflicts to a state of industrial peace. We use panel data techniques to analyze more than 2000 strikes in 103 Swedish towns. We find that a shift of political majority towards the Social …
Railroads and Reform: How Trains Strengthened the Nation State
This paper examines the relationship between the coming of the railroads, the expansion of primary education, and the introduction of national school curricula. Using fine-grained data on local education outcomes in Sweden in the nineteenth century, the paper tests the idea that the development of the railroad network enabled national school inspectors to monitor remote schools more effectively. In localities to which school inspectors could trav…
Reading the ransom: Methodological advancements in extracting the Swedish Wealth Tax of 1571
We describe a deep learning method to read hand-written records from the 16th century. The method consists of a combination of a segmentation module and a Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) module. The transformer-based HTR module exploits both language and image features in reading, classifying and extracting the position of each word on the page. The method is demonstrated on a unique historical document: The Swedish Wealth Tax of 1571. Results…
Power for progress: The impact of electricity on individual labor market outcomes
How does new technology impact labor market outcomes? We address this question by examining the adoption of electricity in Sweden during the early 20th century. Leveraging detailed individual-level data that covers the entire labor market and exogenous variation in electricity access driven by proximity to hydro-power plants, we estimate the impact of electrification on individual labor market outcomes. Our findings show significantly higher earn…
Economics (16 works) · Economic growth (10 works) · Geography (10 works) · Economic geography (7 works) · Economy (7 works) · Historical Economic and Social Studies (6 works) · Macroeconomics (6 works) · Market economy (6 works) · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis (6 works) · Demographic economics (5 works)