Catching up in Europe

Finland's Convergence with Sweden and the EU15

Bibliographic Data

ID20379677
AuthorsArto Kokkinen, Jukka Jalava, Riitta Hjerppe, Matti Hannikainen (0000-0001-9284-1963)
Year2007
Volume55
Issue2
Pages153-171
Publication date2007-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueScandinavian Economic History Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0358-5522 • E-ISSN: 1750-2837
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03585520701435996
OpenAlexW2074699957
LanguageEN
Citations received5

Finland is an obvious case of economic convergence in the 20th century. Is this due to the fact that the Finnish industrialisation phase started late compared with Sweden and the EU15 average? In this article the Finnish post-World War II catch up process is traced by analysing the major i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary-industries. First we explore whether the Finnish catch up can be explained only by late industrialisation. Then we delineate the phases of structural change, and finally, we show how primary, secondary and tertiary production and labour productivity growth have contributed to aggregate development and catch-up. Our analysis brings new results on timing and locating convergence. Secondary production had its biggest impact on Finnish GDP growth later than in Sweden. However, it was not solely the advantages of secondary production growth that caused Finland’s catch-up. The labour productivity growth contribution from services was essential for Finland’s catch up especially in 1965 80

Economic geography · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Industrialisation · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Productivity · Economic Growth and Productivity · Innovation Policy and RD · Regional Development and Policy

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