Kerstin Enflo
Professor
Social democracy and the decline of strikes
Author
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