Twelve Figures in Swedish Economics

“In this collection of essays, Mats Lundahl offers an erudite exposé of twelve Swedish economists who conceived of economics as a broad social science and ventured outside the ivory tower. By presenting key parts of their work that are only available in Swedish, this book not only fills some gaps in the picture of the history of Swedish economics, it also inspires new generations of economists to communicate their findings outside their narrow circle of specialists.”
— Magnus Henrekson, Professor of Economics and Senior Research Fellow at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm

“In this book, we learn about 12 Swedish economists. Heckscher, Ohlin, and Myrdal are world famous — others are talents deserving wider recognition. Mats Lundahl brings them all to life in an excellent overview.”
—Karl Ove Moene, Professor of Economics, University of Oslo


“Mats Lundahl is a master of  biographical essays. In Twelve Figures in Swedish Economicshe provides new material on Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin and also presents ten more economists. His personal style makes the reading a great pleasure at the same time as you learn a lot both about the individuals and their subjects.”
—Bo Sandelin, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Gothenburg

This book explores the development of economic thought in Sweden through some of the people who shaped it. The book highlights both some of the well-known contributions and some overlooked areas of research. It begins with the origins of the pioneer neoclassical Heckscher-Ohlin theorem and Gunnar Myrdal ’s circular, cumulative approach to economic development. Secondly, it focuses on a number of economists related to the Industrial Institute of Economic and Social Research: Ingvar Svennilson, Axel Iveroth, Jan Wallander, Erik Höök, Villy Bergström and Rolf Henriksson. Finally, it offers portraits of three economists from Lund University: Bo Södersten, Ingemar Ståhl and Göte Hansson. The work of all of them is placed within the context of the contemporary academic and public economic debate. This book aims at providing a perspective on the legacy of the Swedish tradition in economics and will be relevant to students and academics interested in the history of economic thought.


Mats Lundahl is Professor emeritus of Development Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics, where he held his chair between 1987 and 2013.