Scandinavia and South America - A Tale of Two Capitalisms
The recent published book ‘Scandinavia and South America - A Tale of Two Capitalisms. Essays on Comparative Developments in Trade, Industrialisation and Inequality since 1850’, provides a comparative economic perspective of South America with Scandinavia.
- In particular, the book aims to deepen our understanding of why the two groups of countries have set out on radically different pathways with regards to industrialisation, long-term economic growth, and income distribution, says Svante Prado, researcher in Economic History at the University of Gothenburg, and one of the editors of the book.
While Scandinavia converged with the rich countries, South America fell behind. This bifurcation occurred even though the two regions developed a similar role as suppliers of natural resources as they were drawn into the emerging Atlantic economy of the late nineteenth century. Both regions were peripheral to the heartlands of industrialization, i.e., peripheral in the functions they performed in the world market for commodities.
The book draws together the results of two separate projects focusing on this comparison. The first of these projects focuses on two of the so-called settler societies of South America, namely Uruguay and Argentina, sometimes called the Pampas region. Australia and New Zealand, two other settler societies, are also considered, adding a further contrasting effect. These settler societies are compared with Scandinavia, in its broad terms, including Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. The second of these projects focuses on comparisons between Brazil and Sweden. Together, the two projects have engaged the minds of economic historians from Brazil, Uruguay and Sweden.
Title of the book
Scandinavia and South America—A Tale of Two Capitalisms.
Essays on Comparative Developments in Trade, Industrialisation and Inequality since 1850
Link: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-09198-8
Svante Prado is a researcher in Economic History at the Department of Economy and Society at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research focuses on Swedish wages and labour markets in historical perspective and international comparisons of labour productivity.
Jorge E. Álvarez Scanniello is Professor and Co-ordinator of the Economic and Social History Programme, Social Sciences Faculty, University of the Republic, Uruguay. He is also Researcher of the National Agency of Innovation and Research, Uruguay.