Kerstin Enflo
Professor
Social Democracy and the Decline of Strikes
Författare
Summary, in English
This paper tests if a strong labor movement leads to fewer industrial conflicts. The focus is on Sweden between the first general election in 1919 and the famous Saltsjöbaden Agreement in 1938, a formative period when the country transitioned from fierce labor conflicts to a state of industrial peace. Using panel data techniques to analyze more than 2,000 strikes in 103 Swedish towns, we find that a shift of municipal political majority towards the Social Democrats led to a significant decline in local strike activity, but only in towns where union presence was strong. The strike-reducing mechanism is related to corporatist explanations rather than increased social spending in municipal budgets.
Avdelning/ar
- Historiska arbetsmarknader
- Tillväxt, teknologisk förändring och ojämlikhet
- Centrum för ekonomisk demografi
Publiceringsår
2021
Språk
Engelska
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Lund papers in Economic history
Issue
2021:222
Fulltext
Dokumenttyp
Working paper
Ämne
- Economic History
Nyckelord
- Power Resource Theory
- industrial conflicts
- strikes
- labor markets
- local politics
- N34
- N44
- H53
- J51
Aktiv
Published