In the globalization period 1870-1913 the Swedish economy was characterized by long swings in economic activity connected with waves of international and internal migration. In this respect the Swedish economy was part of a pattern of business cycles that characterized the Atlantic economy in this period. During successive 20 year periods the business cycles in North America and Western Europe were desynchronized. When emigration across the Atlantic surged, internal migration in Sweden from the countryside to the urban economy stagnated, and vice versa.


The aim of the research project is to explore the causal connection between successive waves of migration and the Swedish long swing pattern. More specifically the project sets itself the following three tasks: chart the regional and temporal pattern of migration; explore the causal factors behind international and internal migration; study the causal connections between migration and long swings in the Swedish economy.


To accomplish the research agenda of the project a new database will be constructed with regional migration data as well as other variables that can be used to explain the migration pattern. These data will be analysed by means of econometric methods and simulation models. The new database will in itself add important knowledge about the late nineteenth century Swedish economy that will be of use also to other researchers.