Explorations in Economic History ( IF 1.857 ) Pub Date : 2019-07-09 , DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2019.06.002 Thor Berger
This paper studies the impact of railroads on growth and structural transformation in 19th-century Sweden. To establish causality, the analysis exploits that the main state-owned lines of the network traversed rural communities that were not directly targeted by planners. Areas “accidentally” traversed by one of these trunk lines experienced substantially more rapid population growth and structural transformation over the next 50 years. These findings suggest that investments in transportation networks can spur industrial development and that the railroad is an important factor to account for Sweden’s rapid catch-up with the leading European industrializers.
中文翻译:
铁路与农村工业化:历史政策实验的证据
本文研究了铁路对19世纪瑞典的经济增长和结构转型的影响。为了建立因果关系,分析利用了网络的主要国有部门穿越了计划者未直接瞄准的农村社区。在接下来的50年中,其中一条主干线“偶然地”穿越的区域经历了人口增长和结构转变的更快得多的发展。这些发现表明,对运输网络的投资可以刺激工业发展,而铁路是瑞典迅速追赶欧洲领先的工业化国家的重要因素。