Some Swedish Stepping-Stones to Growth Economics

This article investigates original contributions made by Swedish economists to the interpretation of the process of economic growth. Knut Wicksell studied the optimal capital accumulation path and applied the aggregate production function approach to growth with land scarcity. Gustav Cassel developed the notion of steady-state growth and its determinants. Erik Lundberg built on Cassel to put forward the so-called Harrod-Domar condition, and he introduced the “Horndal effect” in growth economics. Ingvar Svennilson advanced a hypothesis about the positive relation between the growth rates of production and productivity, together with the notion that economic growth results from the competition between old and new capital goods. The article relates those contributions to the formation of the field of growth economics by Robert Solow and others.