Where Was the Wealth of the Nation? Measuring Swedish Capital for the 19th and 20th Centuries

This report presents estimates of the Swedish national wealth from 1830 to 2010. This contributes to economic historical research on structural change and growth, while it also supplements debates on the composition of wealth and incomes across countries. The report also includes for the first time a historical estimate of the Consumer Rate Interest CRI and an estimate of wealth based on surveys and insurance data. The report includes an extensive description and documentation of the historical estimates. The main findings are that the proportion of intangible capital grew before modern economic growth was achieved in Sweden during the 1890’s. Secondly, we show that the proportion of natural assets fell prior to and during the industrialization, while the share of produced capital has fluctuated, but has remained fairly stable over the period as a whole.