Department of Economy and Society / Institutionen för ekonomi och samhälle (2013-)

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On outdoor recreation in Swedish coastal and marine areas
(2013-04) Skriver Hansen, Andreas; Avdelningen för kulturgeografi, institutionen för ekonomi och samhälle
This paper is about outdoor recreation in Swedish coastal and marine areas and is part of a larger PHD project study of Kosterhavet National Park (KNP) - the most recently introduced national park in Sweden. Characteristic for KNP is that about 98 % of the park area consists of marine and coastal environments unique not only to the West Coast of Sweden, but also on a national and even international level. It is Sweden’s first national park with a distinct marine focus and is one of the few marine national parks in Scandinavia, one other being the Norwegian twin National Park ‘Ytre Hvaler’, located just on the other side of the border next to KNP. Both national parks are praised for their stunning marine scenery and unique biophysical world. For this reason both national parks receive a great number of visitors each year, with numbers spiking during the summer months, where the small islands and coastal communities in the national parks receive thousands of day trippers, second homers and recreationists. They all seek the beautiful nature scenery and the tranquility of the marine landscapes and for some visitors the parks also offer new and adventurous activities such as diving, snorkeling and kayaking. For this reason, outdoor recreation (through various activities) is an important, but also dominating factor, in the two national parks, which at times clashes with the also important aspects of protecting and conserving the unique nature and landscapes. However well visited the two national parks are, studies of outdoor recreation in marine and coastal areas are very few, at least in a Swedish research context. Most studies on outdoor recreation in Sweden tend to focus more on inland, or terrestrial, nature areas such as the Swedish mountains (fjällen) or the Swedish forests. As a result, not much knowledge about outdoor recreation in Swedish marine and coastal areas is available: for instance what people do in marine and coastal landscapes, where they do it and why they do it, and how this all relate to the landscape use, are important questions we simply do not much about. For this reason, my PHD project will try and remediate this situation by contributing with new knowledge of outdoor recreation in Swedish marine and coastal areas - with KNP as my case study example. My research goals or aims in the project are threefold: 1) I want to investigate what coastal landscapes/areas people use/prefer and how their activities and recreational experiences relate to different landscapes in the national park 2) I will test and develop new, qualitative and quantitative monitoring methods and techniques to study outdoor recreation in coastal/marine areas. 3) I will discuss existing zoning strategies as well as further needs for zoning, including an analysis and discussion of zoning models as possible useful tools for management In order to investigate all this, however, it is important first take one step back and get acquainted with what there already is to know about outdoor recreation in Swedish marine and coastal areas. The aim of this paper is therefore to investigate various official formulations, views and contributions on outdoor recreation in marine and coastal areas (e.g. political statements, research). As such, this paper will not only be an informative part of my PHD research, but it will also bring some much needed light to a research field that has been overlooked, or even neglected, at least in a Swedish research context.
Nothing New under the Sun: Essays on the Economic History of Intellectual Property Rights in Music
(2013-04-30) Albinsson, Staffan
This thesis consists of an introductory chapter, five separate articles and an article in Swedish which functions as summary. The introductory chapter provides a general background to the economic history of intellectual property rights in music. Article 1 examines the early history of music copyrighting. It covers the evolution of copyright law regarding the publishing of printed music. Beethoven, Schumann and Debussy are used to exemplify the economic importance of new laws. Article 2 depicts the evolution of performing rights in four European countries. It maintains that economic growth in the Industrial Revolution created new arenas for music from which composers demanded their fair share of revenues. Furthermore, the article discusses why it took several decades before Germany, Britain and Sweden implemented the French system of collective licensing of performing rights. Article 3 focuses on how technological innovations regarding the distribution of music have influenced intellectual property laws. It discusses the argumentative positions of various stakeholders when the printing press, the gramophone, the radio and the cassette tape were introduced. Article 4 describes the financial evolution of the Swedish Performing Rights Society/STIM between 1980 and 2009. It shows how the loss of income from record sales has been compensated for by increased income from broadcasts. Furthermore, the article shows the winner-take-all character of royalty income distribution. Article 5 includes a unique data set presenting the financial situation for Swedish composers of art music between 1990 and 2009. Its main theme is the monetary incentive for new output.
Essays on trade unions and functional income distribution
(2013-05-27) Bengtsson, Erik
This dissertation consists of four research papers and an introduction. The overarching theme for the four papers is the relationship between employers and employees in the labour market, or in more macroeconomic terms the relationship between capital and labour. Within this overarching theme the four papers connect with two distinct research discussions. Papers 1 and 2 study the income distribution between capital and labour, the so-called functional income distribution. Papers 3 and 4 study the agency of trade unions in Sweden in connection with European labour market integration. The introduction presents the research background of the papers, describes the theoretical perspective adopted (the power resources approach), summarises the papers and discusses the implications for further research. Paper 1 studies the functional income distribution in Sweden from 1900 to 2000. Previous research has argued that long-run inequality is better explained by factors inherent in economic development than by social and political factors. This paper makes the argument that social and political factors matter more than previously assumed. Paper 2 studies functional income distribution in 16 countries from 1960 to 2007, focusing on the association between trade unionism and labour’s share of national income. Special attention is paid to varying effects over time and between countries. Paper 3 studies the strategic actions of Swedish trade unions when the free movement of labour and services in the European Union was extended to 10 new EU member states in 2004. Unions in Western Europe were worried about downward wage pressure from this EU enlargement, but made different strategic choices. Previous research has stressed that national institutional factors influenced the strategic choices of unions, but Paper 3 argues that sectoral differences were as important as the national differences. Paper 4 studies cases in the Swedish Labour Court from 2004 to 2010 involving Swedish trade unions and mobile European Union labour. It is shown that several labour market regulations and rights of trade unions have been contested in the process of integrating the Swedish labour market with the common EU labour market.
En värdefull berättelse Wallenbergarnas historieprojekt
(2013-08) Olsson, Ulf
Lock-in as make-believe – Exploring the role of myth in the lock-in of high mobility systems
(2013-09-06) Essebo, Maja
All human practices are, ultimately, set and defined by limits; be they social, economic, physical, or environmental. Yet even in the face of such realities, practices which transgress the confines of possibility remain remarkably obdurate. This thesis addresses the issue of one such practice, i.e. the escalation of personal mobility across time and space which pushes above and beyond systemic boundaries. By so doing, the thesis revolves around the central concept of lock-in, akin to the concept of path-dependence of which the social sciences are more familiar. Lock-in, the process by which systems acquire momentum through the alignment of actors, materialities, and practices with vested interest in system preservation and growth, is deeply dependent on societal acceptance. Yet while widely recognised, social aspects of lock-in remain disfavoured to technological and material explanatory approaches. The aim of this thesis is therefore to explore a component of the lock-in process which has been, in spite of its overlapping features and explanatory potential, mostly or entirely overlooked: myth. Myth is an emplotted, depoliticised, and naturalised story which serves to justify beliefs and to guide practice. As such, its role lock-in processes is to legitimise path choices based on the taken-for-granted, i.e. unquestioned beliefs of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ – not true or false – path alternatives. Myth, in this sense, is therefore not synonymous to a lie or misconception, but to an unquestioned belief that is held in common by its adherents and that exerts influence over the way they chose to live their lives. The thesis addresses both the theoretical and empirical use of the concept of myth within geographical research, stating that defined as a naturalised story which guides everyday practices, and by extension the creation of place, it may be useful to a wide range of issues addressing place-perception interconnections. These include the importance of language, everyday and unreflected practices, and, as has been the topic of this thesis, the mystery of inertia. The empirical part explores how a myth promoting mobility as a necessary and endless path to economic growth helps to create and sustain lock-in into a high and ever expanding mobility system. Focus lies on the city of Malmö in the Öresund Region; a city which, following the industrial collapse of the 1980s, has undergone major transformations based on strategies of high regional mobility. The thesis concludes that the myth of prosperity through mobility helps to sustain and reinforce two mutually supporting types of lock-in: institutional – the administrative framework or ‘rule of thumb’ that guides mobility policy – and infrastructural – the material enactment of myth. By maintaining allegiance to the myth of prosperity through mobility, the only viable option for addressing mounting mobility side-effects is a mobility shift to ‘sustainable’ modes of transport. Alternative paths which would limit mobility can thus be rejected, assuring continued loyalty to the myth and to ever increasing levels of mobility.
På väg mot jämställda arbetsresor? : Vardagens mobilitet i förändring och förhandling
(2013-09-24) Gil Solá, Ana
In Swedish regional policy, regional enlargement, i.e. geographically extended labour markets and associated longer commuting distances, is an explicit goal. This is in order to stimulate economic growth and better match labour supply to the qualifications of the population. However, this policy seldom takes gender into account, overlooking the implications of long commuting for individuals and households in their daily living and practice. The overriding aim of the thesis is to update and deepen existing knowledge about commuting among women and men. A related ambition is also to derive knowledge that could serve an urban and regional policy and planning that advances transport systems and infrastructures better suited for women and their access to the labour market, as well as more equal living conditions for women and men. The thesis is based on two empirical studies, one quantitative and one qualitative. The statistical study uses Swedish national travel survey data covering the periods 1994-95 and 2005-06 and focuses on changes over time in women’s and men’s commuting. The qualitative study is based on twenty in depth interviews with parents with small children living in the Gothenburg urban region, being highly skilled with specialized labour markets, and recently having moved to a new residential location. This study investigates the crucial role of work trips in households’ daily life and asks what women and men perceive as important when decisions affecting travel distance, travel time and mode of transport (travel speed) are taken. The theoretical approach of the thesis is based on time geography and theories of mobility, accessibility and gender. Results from the statistical study show that gender gaps in work trips, as regards distance and speed of travel, have converged slightly over the period. However, women still commute much shorter distances than men do, thus having less spatial reach and access to the labour market. Women and men have equivalent commuting times, implying that men in general use faster means of transport than women. The overall (national) pattern of convergence hides regional variation. A distinct pattern of convergence between the sexes occurs in the Malmö region, while divergence occurs in the Gothenburg region. Regression analyses show that several aspects related to the individual, and to her environment, affect the work trip distance and time in different ways for women and men. For example, having small children associates with reduced trip time for women, and increased trip distance and time among men, other important factors held constant. Results from the qualitative study show how important aspects shaping the work trip are clearly gendered. For example, the wish to have a work place near to the children is more pronounced among women. However, decis-ions related to the use of a car often give men priority. Also, fairly non-gendered factors shape the work trip, for example housing (location) preferences and the perception of trip time as being useful or not. Work trips made by public transport are experienced as a relief by those who can use the time on board for purposeful activities (e.g., work or rest), but as a burden by those who have no such opportunity. The consequences of long work trips for the household members, as regards household work and caring as well as individual’s free-time activities, depend on type of gender contract of the household as well as possibilities to use certain space-time strategies in everyday life. In conclusion, the study shows that Swedes are moving towards more gender equal commuting, but at a very slow pace. At the household level, development depends on the how gender contracts are negotiated, and how societal structures (regarding work locations and supply of public transportation, for example) constrain any decision shaping work related mobility.
Knowledge Creation and Technology Transfer: An Analysis of Swedish Academics
(2013-11-27) Bourelos, Evangelos
This PhD thesis examines knowledge creation and transfer from universities into industry with a focus on academic patents. Academic patents are defined as patents with at least one academic inventor. The thesis presents empirical, methodological and theoretical contributions to the literature on research commercialization and university-industry interaction, focusing on academic inventors and knowledge transfer to the industry. The modern university has been through a transformation to incorporate and expand the third mission in addition to the traditional missions of education and research. The third mission includes interaction with industry and society which will contribute to economic growth. The pressure on the university to adapt to this new role has brought new policies and practices within the areas of commercialization and university-industry interactions. Therefore, it is important to understand this transformation in order to create new public policies and university support structures that will stimulate these positive economic impacts. This thesis is a collection of papers which use quantitative methods. Data related to academic patents has been developed, and multiple quantitative methods used, in order to quantify commercialization and university-industry interaction. One contribution is the creation of a database and methodology for identifying academic inventors in Sweden, combined with an overview of academic patenting across the Swedish universities. The database is used in combination with other data sources to test hypotheses related to the mechanisms of knowledge creation behind academic patenting as well as the ties academics build with industry. The thesis investigates the factors affecting commercialization. The study revealed that academics have positive attitudes to commercialization and they have satisfactory commercialization output, measured as patents and start-ups. The results show that publishing is positively correlated with commercialization and that university support structures play an important role through technology transfer offices, courses in entrepreneurship and incubators. One study focuses on academic scientists within nanoscience, and proposes a novel methodology to study the relation between patenting and publishing at the micro-level. An elaborate matching methodology was used in order to isolate and match author-inventors with “twin” authors who do not invent. The results show positive complementarities and higher number of publications for academic inventors. A cross-sectional study on firm-owned academic patents provides an analysis of the relation between academic inventors, the technological profiles of firms and patent value. One finding is that academic patents have a short-term disadvantage, which disappears in the long term. The study introduces the technological profile of the patent as a control variable for the value of academic patents. Technological profile has been used before in order to classify patents belonging to the firm’s core technologies. Our results show that patents belonging to firms’ core technologies have significantly higher value, regardless of whether they are academic or non-academic patents.
Vägar till jämställdhet inom kommuners transportplanering - från forskningsresultat till praktiska verktyg
(Göteborgs universitet, Handelshögskolan, 2014) Gil Solá, Ana; Göteborgs universitet, Institutionen för Ekonomi och Samhälle, Avdelningen för Kulturgeografi
I Sverige finns sedan 2001 ett transportpolitiskt mål om jämställdhet som bl.a. säger att transportsystemet ska vara utformat efter både kvinnors och mäns transportbehov, liksom att deras värderingar ska tillmätas samma vikt i systemets utformning. Tidigare forskning visar dock på många svårigheter för planerare att implementera målet. Denna rapport belyser hur man kan förstå jämställdhet inom transportområdet. Inledningsvis beskrivs dels steg i (generell) jämställdhetsintegrering, dels vad genusanpassad samhällsplanering kan innebära, och dels olika processer som leder till att redan utsatta grupper, såsom kvinnor, ytterligare exkluderas genom transportsystemet. I en kunskapsöversikt sammanfattas forskning om kvinnors och mäns vardagliga resande. Denna lyfter fram hur grupperna reser idag, vilka förändringar som har skett över tid, liksom varför gruppernas rörlighet skiljer sig åt. Dessa inledande kapitel skapar underlag för en förståelse av skillnader i kvinnors och mäns rörlighet i ett planeringssammanhang. En grundläggande aspekt i tolkningen av resvanestatistik är att den kräver kunskap om sammanhanget för resan, t.ex. hur infrastrukturen är utformad. Rapporten visar ett flertal exempel på initiativ som olika svenska kommuner har tagit i syfte att öka jämställdheten inom transportområdet. Bland dessa ingår både arbetsmoment i processen att jämställdhetsintegrera berörd organisation, liksom konkreta åtgärder för att öka jämställdheten i verksamheten (dvs. åtgärder riktade mot invånarnas resande). Mängden påträffade exempel visar på en bredd av arbetssätt och på att det finns ett intresse för att arbeta med jämställdhetsfrågor inom området. Innehållet i arbetet tyder dock på att det ofta förs på en grundläggande nivå och på att kunskapen ur jämställdhetssynpunkt många gånger är låg, alternativt att man inte har kunnat driva de projekt som man har velat. En stor del av de påträffade initiativen avser att öka kunskapen inom organisationen, liksom att förändra organisationens arbetssätt. Påträffade (ofta fysiska) åtgärder med fokus på verksamheten riktar sig i hög omfattning på att öka tryggheten i transportrummet och på att i begränsad form förbättra förutsättningar för gång, cykel och kollektivtrafik. Att kvinnor generellt gör kortare, långsammare och mer komplexa resor, liksom oftare gör resor som relateras till hushållsansvar, är något som sällan hanteras i åtgärderna. I en analys av hur initiativen förhåller sig till föreslagna steg för jämställdhetsintegrering syns att moment som kräver en bred och djup förståelse för vad jämställdhet innebär för organisationens verksamhet, sällan tas tag i. Dessa analyser understryker sammantaget vikten av att i större omfattning diskutera vad jämställdhet inom transportområdet innebär, liksom av att sprida kunskap om olika sätt att ta sig an frågan. Utifrån intervjuer med tjänstemän från tre kommuner som på ett mer genomgripande sätt har försökt öka jämställdheten inom transportområdet beskrivs vidare vilka möjligheter och hinder som dessa har upplevt, liksom hur arbetsprocessen kan se ut. Några aspekter framgår som särskilt viktiga för att lyckas i arbetet: den politiska ledningens stöd, liksom att mål formuleras av ledningen och att medel tilldelas arbetet. Andra viktiga erfarenheter är att det finns stöd att få från många olika håll för den som ska påbörja arbetet med jämställdhetsintegrering, att man i hög omfattning lär sig hur man ska gå tillväga under arbetets gång, och att man kan fokusera på olika typer av åtgärder när man ska öka jämställdheten i verksamheten. Utifrån dessa erfarenheter kan fyra råd ges till kommuner som vill påbörja jämställdhetsintegrering i transportområdet: 1) att föreslå för politiker att avsätta pengar och formulera mål för arbetet, 2) att samla en mindre grupp medarbetare för att starta arbetet, 3) att börja med att skapa sig en förståelse för vad problemet är, och 4) att gärna inspireras av hur andra har gjort och ta tag i åtgärder som ligger nära tillhands, men framför allt att fundera över vilka åtgärder som gör skillnad när det gäller den egna organisationen och verksamheten.
Geografisk tillgänglighet
(University of Gothenburg, 2014-02) Larsson, Anders; Elldér, Erik; Vilhelmson, Bertil; Human Geography Unit, Dept. of Economy and Society
Tillgänglighet, mobilitet och IT-baserade tillgänglighetsverktyg för kollektivtrafikplanering.
(2014-03) Larsson, Anders; Elldér, Erik; Vilhelmson, Bertil; Avdelningen för kulturgeografi, Institutionen för Ekonomi och samhälle. Göteborgs Universitet
Social Bodies. Family and Community Level Influences on Height and Weight, Southern Sweden 1818-1968
(2014-03-13) Öberg, Stefan
This dissertation consists of an introduction, four research papers and one paper describing the data I collected for the studies and how I conducted the study. I collected information on men from conscript inspection lists and linked this to a sample of men in the Scanian Economic Demographic Database (SEDD) born between 1797 and 1950. The four research papers analyze influences on height and weight in the 19th and 20th centuries using individual-level data with uniquely rich and detailed information on community context and family background. Paper 1 investigates the long-term changes in socioeconomic differences in height. Sons of landholders were, on average, taller than others in the early and mid-19th century but lost this advantage in the late 19th century. Sons of fathers with non-manual occupations were always the tallest group in the population. The magnitude of the socioeconomic differences in height varied over time but became smaller over time. Paper 2 investigates the association between the number of siblings present in the household and the height of the sons. I find that men with a larger number of siblings were, on average, shorter than others in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Dilution of parental resources is a likely explanation of this. The results show that, even if the parental resources were important, it is also important to consider the societal and historical context. The average height of men in Sweden shows a closely mirrored development to the level of infant mortality. In Paper 3 I test the association between height and the infant mortality rate in the year of birth, first year of life and the adult death rate during pregnancy using a sibling comparison design. I find that both the influence of the risk of being sick as an infant and the selection effect of mortality on height are likely to be weak. Paper 4 investigates the occupational differences in body mass index among men born between 1934 and 1950. Socioeconomic differences in body mass index and the risk of obesity are found almost universally in present-day high-income countries. Information on these differences prior to the most recent decades is scarce, for Sweden and internationally. I find that the occupational differences in body mass index were similar in the mid-20th century and in present-day Sweden.
Wages, Inequality and Consequences for the Economy
(2014-04-03) Gärtner, Svenja
This dissertation consists of four research articles and an introductory chapter. The introduction gives an overview about the field of income inequality, an empirical overview of its development, a discussion of methodological issues and a summary of the four articles. Article 1 gives new empirical evidence on internal migration’s macro-economic impact factors in Sweden from 1967 to 2003. The dynamic panel model’s more accurate estimation contradicts recent results arguing that wage differences play no or only a minor role in migration in Sweden. Article 2 provides a comparative analysis of the development of the gender wage gap in Germany and Sweden during the period 1960–2006. The analysis accounts for micro- and macro-economic factors and politics and concludes that norms and traditions penetrate institutional settings and ensnare Germany in a cultural trap with regard to gender equality. Article 3 gives a comprehensive empirical overview of the evolution of wage inequality in Sweden over the twentieth century. It shows that a true equality revolution took place during the 1930s and 1940s, hence before the fully fledged welfare state came into being, raising the question of whether a universal welfare state system requires an equal income distribution. On our way to finding a mechanism that links inequality and the welfare state together, we find that trust is a factor that facilitates the implementation of social policies aiming at redistribution. Article 4 compares wage inequality in 12 European countries, the US and Australia, estimating its impact on labour productivity for the period 1970–2006. The results indicate that wage inequality hampers productivity growth mainly through an indirect effect on employment, namely as an intensification of the employment–productivity trade-off in Europe. By contrast, inequality is productivity-increasing in the US and Australia.
Jordbruksmark i förändring. Drivkrafter bakom och förutsättningar för offentlig styrning i Sverige och Norge
(2014-10-09) Slätmo, Elin
With a focus on agricultural land use change, the overriding aim of this thesis is to contribute to the development of a more sustainable use and management of resources. A core requirement for doing so is to develop deeper knowledge of the ways we use resources and change land uses today. Since the 1950s the amount of agricultural land on the Scandinavian Peninsula (Sweden and Norway) has decreased. From the global perspective of long-term sustainability this development is problematic. The loss of agricultural land to asphalt and concrete is a particularly challenging problem as this is often irreversible. The aim of this study is to investigate why agricultural land is being transferred to other land uses and to examine what potentials exist to influence these changes within today’s policy structures. The study is based on a time-geographical approach meaning that context and the inevitable sharing of time and space is important for understanding changes. The theoretical frame is formulated as a contextual landscape perspective which acknowledges that landscape changes occur through actor’s activities that are influenced by social and physical structural aspects – e.g. driving forces. The complexity and dynamics of land use changes are investigated with a case study methodology that focuses on three cases; the rural area of Hållnäs in Sweden and the peri-urban areas in Sarpsborg and Sandnes, Norway. The main methods used are interviews, document studies and seminars with researchers and officials. In the case studies the dominant driving forces for agricultural land use are categorized as enabling, limiting or direct triggering forces. In turn, the policy structures are investigated through a focus on decision making processes concerning spatial planning and agriculture. The study concludes that the causes behind agricultural land use change vary according to where the land is located, what activities occur and the values ascribed to the land. The agricultural land is primarily changing because of the economic conditions in the agricultural sector, characterized by global competition and difficulties in developing other income opportunities in rural areas. In addition, agricultural land – especially in peri-urban areas - is changed to other uses as other land claims and social interests are given higher priority in the competition for physical space; such as business establishments, homes, infrastructure and outdoor-recreation. The agricultural land contributes to several different values and societal interests; for production, conservation and recreation. With the landscape perspective it is acknowledged that there are both synergies and conflicts between these interests in the agricultural landscapes today, depending on which activities occur. The study also highlights that context must be taken into consideration in order to be able to understand the relations between agricultural land and other land claims. Analysis of the situations in Sweden and Norway illustrate that policy and public management can play an important role in preserving agricultural land. Increasing the opportunities to prevent agricultural land being transferred to other uses in Sweden and Norway can be achieved by primarily focusing on the following issues: 1) more clearly distinguishing between what is currently defined as agricultural land from traditional agricultural activities, 2) developing spatial planning to further integrate rural perspectives and values, and 3) transferring decision making power over land use to higher institutional levels. The most important precondition for protecting agricultural land is, however, the existence of the political will to do so. This thesis contributes with new understandings of the logics of landscapes; landscapes are changing through different enabling and limiting relations between individuals’ activities and the time and place specific physical and social contexts. Further, the thesis contributes with discussions around pros and cons of different ways to organize and delegate responsibility in the public management and of the importance of analyzing conflicts and synergies between the variations of values and claims that humans ascribe to different lands.
Ports, dock workers and labour market conflicts
(2014-12-02) Hamark, Jesper
ABSTRACT Ports, dock workers and labour market conflicts Gothenburg Studies in Economic History 12 (2014) ISBN : 978-91-86217-11-2 http://hdl.handle.net/2077/37421 Author: Jesper Hamark Doctoral Dissertation in Economic History at the Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 625, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden. (Written in English.) Distribution: Department of Economy and Society (address as above). This dissertation consists of an introduction and four research papers that connect with two broad research fields: economic growth and labour market conflicts. In the introduction I provide a theoretical framework and I elaborate on the methods and material used in the papers. In Paper 1, I investigate the topic of inter-industry propensity to strike. Earlier research has suggested that some groups of workers have struck more than others. One such group is dock workers—known within labour history and industrial relations for their militancy across time and space. But as shown in the paper, there is no empirical evidence for the particular strike-proneness of dockers up to WWII . Port strikes seem to have been not so much a quantitative as a qualitative phenomenon: the position of dockers in the distribution chain gave them the potential to disrupt society to a degree far exceeding most other occupational groups. In Paper 2, co-author Christer Thörnqvist and I study the 1909 Swedish General Strike. The strike was not powerful enough, and the trade unions and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, LO, met a crushing defeat. Our focus is the functioning of the transportation system—and the ports in particular—an aspect of vital outcome for the strike, but one which is underdeveloped in previous research. We make the argument that LO did little or nothing to support the strikers in the ports, and that export could continue with the assistance of strikebreakers. One of the factors explaining LO’s disinterest in port affairs was its overall strategy to respect the laws of the state; at the time it was a crime to even try to force someone to strike, or in any way prevent someone from working. In Paper 3, I examine technology and productivity in the pre-container Port of Gothenburg. I argue that technological change was gradual for a long period of time and that the forklift and pallet—adopted in the late 1940s—were responsible for setting off a series of changes. The productivity figures I present strongly indicate growth up to WWII —an empirical finding that contrasts with results from other ports. In the postwar years productivity continued to grow, but at a faster rate compared to the prewar years. The pattern of productivity offers tentative support for the contention that the impact of the forklift was revolutionary. In Paper 4, I discuss the transformation of the Swedish labour market in the first half of the twentieth century: from high to low levels of conflict activity. I critically evaluate the power resources hypothesis, saying that the seizing of governmental power by social democrats in the 1930s gave the working class opportunity to shift focus: from costly strikes within the industrial sphere to less costly redistributive policies within the political sphere. As an alternative explanation I emphasize intra-labour tensions. Communism, syndicalism and social democracy showed diverse attitudes towards industrial militancy, and the relative strength of the three ideologies affected conflict activity accordingly.
Securing Customary Land Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa
(University of Gothenburg, 2015) Krantz, Lasse
Degraded and restituted towns in Poland: Origins, development, problems
(Copyright 2015 by University of Gothenburg, 2015) Krzysztofik, Robert; Dymitrow, Mirek
One of the less known problems in settlement geography is the issue of so-called degraded and restituted towns. This lack of reconnaissance, however, is perhaps less the result of the towns’ scarcity than their specificity of being ‘awarded’ or ‘deprived of’ an urban label by means of strictly socio-political actions. Degraded and restituted towns, hence, are spatial units made ‘rural’ or ‘urban’ instantaneously, irrespective of their de facto state along what is widely considered a gradual path of (de)urbanization. Instead, they become compartmentalized into two constructed spatial categories that have survived the onslaught of material transformations and philosophical repositioning. While ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ are conceptual binaries that certainly need to be treated with caution, their cultural salience may cause tangible consequences within national administrative systems that abide by a formalized rural-urban distinction. This issue becomes particularly important for settlements that clearly transcend any imagined rural-urban divide, i.e. those, whose material and immaterial characteristics seem counterfactual to their assigned category. It is also crucial in formal practices designed to avert such counterfactualities, but whose randomness of approach more creates confusion than helps straighten out a historical concoction. Both processes, nonetheless, lend ‘urbanity’ and ‘rurality’ a resonance of objectivity that justifies their use as guides for a host of developmental endeavors, despite subverting a much more intricate reality. Degraded and restituted towns are direct derivatives of this. Drawing on the above-mentioned irreconcilabilities, the aim of this book is to present and scrutinize degraded and restituted towns through the example of Poland, where these towns occupy a special niche. For one, Poland, due to its chequered and variegated history, is home to a conspicuously large number of degraded (828) and restituted (240) towns; for another, Poland’s relentlessness of formalizing ‘urbanity’ as a category of statistical, political and cultural guidance has a direct bearing on the lives of the towns’ residents. Realizing the intricacy of degraded and restituted towns in the face of commonplace rural- urban ideations, the editors and the 17 contributing Authors of this book have made an effort to capture the towns’ complexity with special foci on their shrouded origins, developmental specificities and incurred problems. Owing to the involvement of researchers from different scientific disciplines and subdisciplines, the undertaken project has helped elucidate the problem from multiple perspectives: spatial, social, demographic, economic, environmental, historical, architectural, cultural, legal and philosophical. Allocated into 17 chapters, not only have the presented interpretations allowed for a first interdisciplinary synthesis on the topic, but they also helped outline some prospective directions for future research. Moreover, collecting materials of such diversity into an amalgamated whole has helped identify specific discourses that enwrap the concept of “urbanity” when seen through its oscillations within formal contexts, and to which degraded and restituted towns serve as expendable game pieces. By combining knowledge arrived at through epistemologically different approaches, the incremental contribution of this book as a whole could be summarized in two attainments: a) extending theoretical frameworks used to study degraded and restituted towns in terms of definition, conceptualization and assessment of predispositions for future development on account of their spatial, legal, socio-economic and historical characteristics; b) initiating an anticipated discussion on a number of important and current topics related to the practices of degradation and restitution that have not received adequate attention, e.g., the urbanity-vs.-rurality paradox, the changeability of human settlement forms vs. the consequences of rigid spatial categorizations; the role of various actors in shaping the socioeconomic reality under the guise of an ossified binary; or identifying spatio-conceptual conflicts as future challenges for local, regional and national policy.
Social Democracy and the Swedish welfare model. Ideational analyses of attitudes towards competition, individualization, privatization
(2015-01-12) Lapidus, John
ABSTRACT Social Democracy and the Swedish welfare model: Ideational analyses of attitudes towards competition, individualization, privatization Gothenburg Studies in Economic History 13 (2015) ISBN 978-91-86217-12-9 http://hdl.handle.net/2077/37702 Author: John Lapidus Doctoral Dissertation in Economic History at the Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 625, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden. (Written in English) Distribution: Department of Economy and Society (address as above) This dissertation consists of an introduction and five research papers dealing with institutional change and how different actors, mainly Social Democracy and its related trade unions, have interacted with the same. Sweden was one of the countries that developed a welfare model able to combine economic growth with increasing universalism and equality both on the labour market and in the welfare state arena. During the last decades, however, the model has undergone a lot of change. This includes developments such as the introduction of a new competition policy, the greater use of individual wage setting, the rise of private health insurance and the new state-subsidized topping up possibilities within major welfare services. By using different types of ideational analysis, these are the four areas investigated in the papers of this thesis. Papers 2-5 deal with more recent developments, while paper 1 focuses on a time before the emergence of this type of welfare regime. Paper 1 examines why Social Democracy had such a permissive attitude towards cartels in the 1920s. It is found that the idea of socialization was the main factor behind the permissive attitude, i.e. that monopolistic associations were seen as suitable targets for future socialization. Paper 2 investigates how different actors have viewed competition legislation over time. One of the findings is that a new consensus on competition policy became possible only after Social Democracy abandoned the idea to give the public sector a unique position in terms of competition legislation. Paper 3 reviews and examines the arguments for individual wage setting brought forward by the largest Swedish trade union. I find a lack of sustainability in the arguments for individual wages. Paper 4 analyzes the discrepancy between political rhetoric and practice with regard to the rapid rise of private health insurance. I also investigate the relation between privatized delivery and privatized funding. Paper 5 describes the new state-subsidized topping up possibilities within three major welfare services. It is argued that it represents a departure from the idea of universal welfare services, which aimed to get rid of means-tested, selective elements.
Monitoring and managing outdoor recreation in coastal and marine areas – what do we know and what do we need to know?
(2015-02) Skriver Hansen, Andreas; University of Gothenburg. Department of Economy and Society. Únit for Human Geography
Skrivhandledning: För doktorander i ekonomisk historia vid Göteborgs universitet
(2015-02) Elmerot, Irene
This is a guide to writing a doctoral thesis at the Department for Economy and Society, specifically directed at the unit for Economic History, at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. It is written in Swedish but also applies to Ph.D. students writing in English or other languages at the university. Denna handledning ska fungera som en mall och kontrollista för doktorander i ekonomisk historia som skriver på svenska eller engelska. Den ska kunna vara ett stöd under hela doktorandtiden och doktoranden ska kunna gå tillbaks till den när hen kör fast i skrivandet. Den erbjuder tips i texthantering, skrivarbete, korrekturläsning och som avslutning några tips på vidare läsning.
Pushed into Unemployment, Pulled into Retirement: Facing Old Age in Gothenburg, 1923-1943
(2015-02) Karlsson, Tobias
Along with rapid growth and improved standards of living, the first decades of the twentieth century saw the introduction of new technology and new ways to organize production. There are contrasting views on what impact these developments, often summarized as the Second Industrial Revolution, had on the situation of old men in the labour market. Some contemporary observers and modern-day historians have described how old men were crowded out of the labour force and pushed into an ‘industrial scrap heap’. Other researchers have maintained a more optimistic view on the opportunities of old men and argued that labour force withdrawal often was made possible by rising real earnings and savings. Since most of the research in the field has been based on cross-sectional data, the debate has relied on anecdotes, indirect evidence and assumptions.This paper uses data from a longitudinal panel of men living in the city of Gothenburg during the period 1923-1943. In contrast to most previous studies, this one takes up actual transitions into retirement and how such transitions were associated with access to resources. The main result is that a lack of resources was associated with a higher risk of retirement. This association appears even clearer when the sample is restricted to workingclass men and to the latter half of the period of investigation, when unemployment was lower and pension benefits higher. Thus, it would appear that transitions into retirement were most frequent when push and pull mechanisms were combined.

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