Financial revolution and economic modernisation in Sweden

The development of a well-adapted financial system was a main part of the successful Swedish economic modernisation in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In this article it is shown that this development followed the pattern of a financial revolution. Major institutional and organisational changes that took place roughly between the late 1850s and early 1870s led to a rapid increase in liquidity and financial services. This financial revolution preceded the acceleration in economic growth in general and in the modern, industrial sector in particular. Monetisation especially encouraged growth, both in the industrial sector and in GDP as a whole. The basis of the financial system, measured as commercial bank assets and equity capital, affected overall GDP growth. The results also clearly promoted the importance of the development of the financial sector and monetisation as an interlinked and complementary process.