Lars Magnusson's Lecture: A History of Economic Thought in Sweden

Purpose of the lecture series

DEPE lectures introduce novel ways of thinking about the history of political and economic thought. They situate political and economic thought in broader cultural, political and intellectual settings, hence going beyond standard canonical histories that have dominated these fields for too long. In addition, the DEPE lectures explore the possibilities of combining the study of history of political thought and the history of economic thought.

About the lecture

 Seminar presentation of the recent book “A History of Economic Thought in Sweden”.

The seminar discusses themes presented in my new book. It is the first attempt to write a general synthesis of the History of Economic Thought in Sweden, placing doctrine and discourse in a historical context. It surveys Swedish developments from the medieval period up to the 1980s, presenting the development of economic thinking as an open process of emulation and active translation of economic discourse drawn from different traditions. This is placed within a Swedish political, economic, social context, making use the methods of intellectual history.

I will:

• Give an overview of contrasting methodologies for writing the History of Economic Thought.
• Ask how "Swedish" the development of Swedish economic thinking really was.
• Address the issue of “schools” in the development of economic thinking.
• Consider pre-modern economic thinking, of the state and the issue of mercantilism.
• Outline the rise of natural law in Swedish economic discourse during the 18th century.
• Treat national liberalism as part of the Swedish path to modernity during the 19^th century.
• Examine the place of national economy and marginalism in the Swedish context.

About the lecturer

Lars Magnusson is professor emeritus in Economic History in the Faculty of Social Science, Uppsala University. He has researched and written extensively on Swedish and international economic history, concentrating on the 18^th and 19^th century; but also on more modern topics, including the Swedish Model and the Third Industrial Revolution. The History of Economic Thought in Sweden, and more broadly, has also been an important topic for his research. He has published a wide range of articles and books, including “Mercantilism: the Shaping of an Economic Language” (1994), “An Economic History of Sweden” (2000), “The Tradition of Free Trade” (2004), “Nation, State and the Industrial Revolution: The Visible Hand” (2009), “Political Economy of Mercantilism” (2016) and “A History of Economic Thought in Sweden” (2025). Magnusson has been vice-president of Uppsala University, Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and is a member of The Swedish Royal Academy.