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Jakob Molinder . Photo

Jakob Molinder

Researcher

Jakob Molinder . Photo

Social democracy and the decline of strikes

Author

  • Jakob Molinder
  • Tobias Karlsson
  • Kerstin Enflo

Summary, in English

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 Democrats led to a significant decline in strikes, but only in towns where union presence was strong. The strike-reducing mechanism is related to corporatist explanations rather than increased social spending in municipal budgets.

Department/s

  • Department of Economic History
  • Growth, technological change, and inequality
  • Historical labour markets
  • Centre for Economic Demography

Publishing year

2022-01-13

Language

English

Publication/Series

Explorations in Economic History

Volume

83

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Economic History

Keywords

  • Power resource theory
  • Industrial conflicts
  • Strikes
  • Labor markets
  • Local politics
  • N34
  • N44
  • H53
  • J51

Status

Published

Project

  • From Sundsvall to Saltsjöbaden: A regional perspective on strikes at the Swedish labor market

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0014-4983