The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Elites and the Expansion of Education in 19th-century Sweden

På svenska

Author

Summary, in English

Did economic and political inequality hamper the spread of mass schooling in the 19th century? This paper analyzes the link between investments in primary schooling and the spread of voting rights in 19th-century Sweden using newly collected data on educational expenditure and the distribution of voting rights in local governments. We find that municipalities governed by local elites spent substantially more on primary schooling relative to those that were more egalitarian. This empirical result is robust to using matching estimators, comparing municipalities located within the same county or district, and using differences in agricultural suitability as an instrument for the presence of local landed elites. Broadly, these findings suggest that elites were historically not always a barrier to the diffusion of elementary education and further our understanding of how Sweden managed to maintain a high level of human capital despite its low level of economic development and restricted franchise in the 19th century.

Publishing year

2016

Language

English

Publication/Series

Lund Papers in Economic History: Education and the Labour Market

Issue

149

Document type

Working paper

Publisher

Department of Economic History, Lund University

Topic

  • Economic History

Keywords

  • Democratization
  • elites
  • human capital development
  • I21
  • I24
  • N33

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1101-346X