Swedish Economic Growth and Education Since 1800.

2009

This paper addresses two issues. To what extent can models estimated on modern data be used to account for growth patterns in the past? Can information on historical patterns help to improve long-term forecasting of economic growth? We consider a reduced-form statistical model based on the demographic dividend literature. Assuming that there is a common DGP guiding growth through the demographic transition, we use an estimate from post-war global data to backcast the Swedish historical GDP growth.

Applied Economics, 1998

This paper estimates changes in the rate of return to education in Sweden between 1968 and 1991. Both the`quantity' (years of schooling completed) and`quality' (highest quali® cation obtained) dimensions of education are considered. Adopting a human capital approach, the rate of return is measured in terms of di erences in wage rates associated with di erences in education. Both quadratic wage and cubic spline wage functions are estimated.

Dumbing Down, 2022

Foreign observers of Sweden have attributed the country’s socially inclusive economic growth, which was sustained during nearly one hundred years, to the expansion of the Social Democratic welfare state. However, this analysis overlooks the fundamental causes of Sweden’s economic takeoff. The crucial feature that Sweden exhibited was its uniquely large and evenly distributed stock of human capital. A widespread appreciation for learning and the development of education from the 1600s onwards were the key drivers of the strong development. Against this background, the decline of the Swedish educational system should be cause for serious concern about the country’s future. The chapter provides a summary of the problems regarding schooling in Sweden and presents our view of their causes. The origin of Sweden’s academic decline is mainly attributable to a phenomenon that we refer to as “post-truth” schooling—education based on a postmodern social constructivist view of knowledge.

2000

This paper reviews the recent theoretical and empirical literature that relates education to growth, and draws some lessons for the Swedish experience. First, the "human capital accumulation" approach is discussed: agents decide, at each moment of their lives, to forego time or resources to improve their future productivity. The quality of the educational system is argued to be a crucial determinant of the decision to invest in human capital and of the growth rate of the economy. Hence, qualified teachers and appropriate incentive schemes within the schooling sectors are important for the long-run performance of the economy. Next, the trade-off between basic innovation (promoted by a restricted subset of economic activities) and learning-by-doing (which occurs at a more diffuse level in the economy) is analysed. It is argued that the former can be fostered by investments in "elite" research institutions, while the latter depends on the average educational attainment of the working population. Finally, the relationship between education, growth and inequality is discussed.

Scandinavian Journal of History, 2000

We would like to thank professor Roger Schofield, who has generously shared with us his population data, and fil. kand. Christian Skarman, who has provided valuable help in the process of data revision. In this essay, we argue that one way to approach the challenge of population ageing is to analyse the consequences of age structure changes in the past. In fact, dramatic changes in the age structure are not a new phenomenon. Every country that has entered the demographic transition-in some cases 200 years ago or more-has also experienced a prolonged period of substantial age structure change. With more systematic knowledge about these past changes, we will be better prepared to deal with future demographic challenges. This essay is, in the main, an explorative contribution to the ongoing debate about the role of population in economic development. We discuss why it is reasonable to expect that age structure matters to economic and social development, and to what extent, and in what ways, this assumption is confirmed by empirical data. We have chosen Sweden as our main empirical example, since it is a country with a long series of detailed population statistics. 3 Furthermore, Sweden provides a rather typical pattern of long-term age structure change. In fact, the stylised model of the demographic transition, taught today in

2007

This study is the first to explore the earnings effects of credits attained in adult education at upper secondary level (AE) in Sweden. It is also investigated whether individuals with and without AE prior to enrolment in higher studies differ in their achievements at university and/or in their subsequent earnings. The analyses are based on register data of the cohort born in 1970 of which more than one third at some point has been registered in AE. In the preferred specification, credits equal to one year of AE are found to increase annual wage earnings by 4.1 per cent for males and 3.6 per cent for females. The results are mainly driven by course credits with an element of specific knowledge such as health related subjects and computer science, while more general subjects such as Mathematics, Swedish or English are linked with zero returns. Concerning higher education, the results indicate a lower payoff for AE individuals if higher studies are limited to less than two years. Ther...

2002

Abstract There are strong life cycle patterns in practically all human behavior as well as in resources and capabilities. Variations in the age structure therefore affect all aspects of the aggregate economy. Swedish post-war development exhibit patterns of age structure effects on saving, growth, investment, current account, budget balance and inflation consistent with the dynamics of these variables in historic cycles. The deviations of actual time series from the model predictions arise with identifiable shifts in economic policy.

3rd International Anatolian Congress on Scientific Research, 2022

The objective of this research is to explore the interrelation between education expenditures and economic growth for the case of Norway. For this purpose, annual time series, namely, per capita GDP and per capita education expenditure which are obtained from World Development Indicators Database, are used. The investigation period is from 1980 to 2018 due to the data availability. Both series are measured in US dollars with constant 2015 prices. Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) is used to test whether the series have unit root or not. Findings of ADF test proved that both series become stationary in their first differences. This finding is confirmed with the Phillips-Perron test as well. The ARDL (2,3) model which was determined as the best fitting model chosen by Akaike Information Criteria is first tested to confirm whether the variables are cointegrated or not. The bounds test results uncovered that education expenditures is the forcing variable of the economic growth in the long run. By employing the relevant diagnostic tests, it is showed that non-normality, parameter instability and model misspecification issues are not valid for the ARDL (2,3) model. Furthermore, it is also showed by the diagnostic check findings that the model also successfully passed serial correlation and heteroskedasticity tests as well. After the diagnostic test stage, Unrestricted Error Correction (UEC) form of the ARDL (2,3) model is constructed. By using UEC form, the short run coefficient estimations are performed. The short run findings of the model revealed that 24% of disequilibrium that may occur in any given period will adjust back to the long run balance in the next period. Following the estimation of the short run parameters of the model, coefficients for the long run are also estimated. The long run coefficient of the education expenditure per capita which was found to be positive, suggested that educational expenditures will be affecting economic growth positively. More precisely, an 1% increase in per capita education expenditure will cause a 0.55 increase in per capita GDP in Norway.

OECD Education Working Papers, 2012

We estimate the steady state growth rate for the Nordic countries using a “knowledge economy” approach. An endogenous growth framework is employed, in which total factor productivity is a function of human capital (measured by average years of education), trade openness, research and development, and investment ratio. We attempt to identify the variables which have significant level and growth effects within this framework. We find that education plays an important role in determining the long-run growth rates of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark; and trade openness has growth effects in Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The investment ratio plays an important role for growth in Finland. In addition to growth effects, education also has level effects in Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Research and development, has no level or growth effects in any of the Nordic countries. This may be attributable to the fact that research and development are driven by openness and education. Policy measures are...