The wealth of the Swedish peasant farmer class (1750–1900): composition and distribution

Abstract

Using about 1,730 probate inventories, this article studies the wealth of peasant farmers in Sweden for the years 1750, 1800, 1850 and 1900. Average wealth grew rapidly, tripling over the nineteenth century, but it did not grow equally: the Gini coefficient for the farmers' wealth grew from 0.46 in 1750 to 0.73 in 1900. Farmers who lived close to the major grain markets in Stockholm and the mining district of Bergslagen were wealthier than others, as were farmers on fertile plains and, in 1900, those living in coastal areas. Increased market accessin terms of cities and foreign demandmeant that farmers well placed in terms of geography and infrastructure benefited much more than farmers on what became the periphery. The diversity of farmers' wealth grew, as did their financial sophistication.

Impartial Administration and Peaceful Agrarian Reform: The Foundations for Democracy in Scandinavia

“…Two trends are clear. First, the Scandinavian countries, while differing in the types and degrees of reform, saw substantial peasant emancipation and/or dramatic land redistributions (one- to two-thirds of arable lands), even though smallholders were excluded from the reform benefits in Denmark and Sweden (Barton 1986, 210; Bengtsson and Svensson 2019). Second, violent rebellions and uprisings were very few and short-lived by European standards (see also Jones 1990, 332).…”

A complicated puzzle: spinsters, widows and credit in Sweden (1790–1910)

“…In this process of general enrichment, the weight of real estate in the total value of inventories may have played a decisive role because of the strong increase in land prices in the second half of the century (Bengtsson and Svensson 2019, p. 132). This seems to be true in Gävle but not in Uppsala, where wealth was primarily composed of stocks, bank accounts and credits in the peer-to-peer credit market (we will delve deeper in the following section).…”

Prospering despite the adverse terms of emancipation? Accumulation of wealth by peasant farmers in the tsarist Russian province of Livonia, 1853–1913

“…5 Recently, probate inventories have been used to estimate the increase of farmers' wealth in Sweden and Finland from 1750 to 1900. 6 Traditionally, quantitative research on agricultural dynamics and growth in the former serf societies measures increases in yields, agricultural output, GDP per capita, real wages, and/or the decline of the proportion of the total labour force employed in agriculture. However, the lack of complete and homogenous data series in the less developed parts of Europe complicates the analysis of long-term trends in productivity and living standards there.…”