Erik Bengtsson
Biographic Data
| ID | 3673821 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Erik Bengtsson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Erik |
| FAMILY NAME | Bengtsson |
| SIGNATURE | BENGTSSON E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lund University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
What Happened to the Incomes of the Rich during the Great Levelling? Evidence from Swedish Individual-Level Data, 1909-1950
We use individual-level income data from archived taxation lists to study top-income earners in Sweden from 1909 to 1950. Using information on 21,055 individual taxpayers in two elite areas in greater Stockholm, we show that top incomes fell in real terms over this period, at a stable pace without obvious connection to the Great Depression or the world wars. The peak of inequality was related to the early stages of a globalized economy with Schum…
The politics of inflation and revitalisation of wage solidarity in Scandinavia
This article compares the policy and collective bargaining responses in the three Scandinavian countries to the cost-of-living crisis that began in 2021. The countries are known for their coordinated and consensual response to exogenous shocks. However, Scandinavian variants of neoliberal reforms, the 2009 Financial Crisis and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic have challenged the model. The comparative analysis finds three things. First, Norw…
Bondesamfunn og bondeopposisjon på Agder
"Bondesamfunn og bondeopposisjon på Agder: I overgangen mellom seinmiddelalder og tidlig nytid ca. 1480–1615." Scandinavian Economic History Review, 71(1), pp. 100–101
The Swedish Sonderweg in Question
During the twentieth century, Sweden became known as a country with an unusually egalitarian distribution of income and wealth, an encompassing welfare state, and an exceptionally strong social democracy. It is commonplace among historians and social scientists to consider these equal outcomes of the twentieth century as the logical end result of a much longer historical trajectory of egalitarianism, from early modern free peasant farmers or from…
Capital Shares and Income Inequality
This article studies the long-run relationship between the capital share in national income and top personal income shares. Using a newly constructed historical cross-country database on capital shares and top income data, we find evidence on a strong, positive link that has grown stronger over the past century. The connection is stronger in Anglo-Saxon countries, in the very top of the distribution, when top capital incomes predominate, when usi…
The economic effects of the 1920 eight-hour working day reform in Sweden
In 1920, the working day in Swedish manufacturing and services was cut from 10 to 8 hours without wages being cut correspondingly. Since workers demanded and got the same daily wage working 8 hours as they had with 10, real hourly wages increased dramatically; they were about 50% higher in 1921–1922 than they had been in 1919. This is the largest wage push in Swedish history, and this paper studies the consequences for profits, investments, capit…
Capital Shares and Income Inequality
Labour's share in twentieth-century Sweden
The distribution of national income between capital and labour is a classical theme in political economy. This paper takes a long-run perspective to the issue and asks two questions: How did the distribution of income between capital and labour develop in Sweden from 1900 to 2000? And how can this development best be explained? It is shown that labour's share in Sweden in the 100 years from 1900 to 2000 saw three important shifts, and the three s…
Capital Shares and Income Inequality
This article studies the long-run relationship between the capital share in national income and top personal income shares. Using a newly constructed historical cross-country database on capital shares and top income data, we find evidence on a strong, positive link that has grown stronger over the past century. The connection is stronger in Anglo-Saxon countries, in the very top of the distribution, when top capital incomes predominate, when usi…
Labour's share in twentieth-century Sweden
The distribution of national income between capital and labour is a classical theme in political economy. This paper takes a long-run perspective to the issue and asks two questions: How did the distribution of income between capital and labour develop in Sweden from 1900 to 2000? And how can this development best be explained? It is shown that labour's share in Sweden in the 100 years from 1900 to 2000 saw three important shifts, and the three s…
Capital Shares and Income Inequality
The economic effects of the 1920 eight-hour working day reform in Sweden
In 1920, the working day in Swedish manufacturing and services was cut from 10 to 8 hours without wages being cut correspondingly. Since workers demanded and got the same daily wage working 8 hours as they had with 10, real hourly wages increased dramatically; they were about 50% higher in 1921–1922 than they had been in 1919. This is the largest wage push in Swedish history, and this paper studies the consequences for profits, investments, capit…
Capital Shares and Income Inequality
This article studies the long-run relationship between the capital share in national income and top personal income shares. Using a newly constructed historical cross-country database on capital shares and top income data, we find evidence on a strong, positive link that has grown stronger over the past century. The connection is stronger in Anglo-Saxon countries, in the very top of the distribution, when top capital incomes predominate, when usi…
The Swedish Sonderweg in Question
During the twentieth century, Sweden became known as a country with an unusually egalitarian distribution of income and wealth, an encompassing welfare state, and an exceptionally strong social democracy. It is commonplace among historians and social scientists to consider these equal outcomes of the twentieth century as the logical end result of a much longer historical trajectory of egalitarianism, from early modern free peasant farmers or from…
Bondesamfunn og bondeopposisjon på Agder
"Bondesamfunn og bondeopposisjon på Agder: I overgangen mellom seinmiddelalder og tidlig nytid ca. 1480–1615." Scandinavian Economic History Review, 71(1), pp. 100–101
The politics of inflation and revitalisation of wage solidarity in Scandinavia
This article compares the policy and collective bargaining responses in the three Scandinavian countries to the cost-of-living crisis that began in 2021. The countries are known for their coordinated and consensual response to exogenous shocks. However, Scandinavian variants of neoliberal reforms, the 2009 Financial Crisis and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic have challenged the model. The comparative analysis finds three things. First, Norw…
What Happened to the Incomes of the Rich during the Great Levelling? Evidence from Swedish Individual-Level Data, 1909-1950
We use individual-level income data from archived taxation lists to study top-income earners in Sweden from 1909 to 1950. Using information on 21,055 individual taxpayers in two elite areas in greater Stockholm, we show that top incomes fell in real terms over this period, at a stable pace without obvious connection to the Great Depression or the world wars. The peak of inequality was related to the early stages of a globalized economy with Schum…
Economics (6 works) · Labour economics (4 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (4 works) · Demographic economics (3 works) · Geography (3 works) · Inequality (3 works) · Market economy (3 works) · Political science (3 works) · Art (2 works) · Economic inequality (2 works)