The causes and extent of regional inequality in the process of economic growth are at the core of historical economic research. So far, much attention has been devoted to studying the role of industrialization in driving regional divergence. However, empirical studies on relatively unequal countries such as Italy and Spain show that inequality was already high at the outset of modern industrialization. Using new estimates of Swedish regional GDP, this article looks for the first time at regional inequality in a pre‐industrial European economy. Its findings show that inequality increased dramatically between 1571 and 1750 and stayed high until the mid‐nineteenth century. This result refutes the classical view that the industrial take‐off was the main driver of regional divergence. Decomposing the Theil index for GDP per worker, we find that the bulk of inequality from 1750 onwards was driven by structural differences across sectors rather than different regional productivity within sectors. We show that counties with higher agricultural productivity followed a classic Malthusian pattern when experiencing technological advancement, while those with higher industrial productivity did not. We suggest that institutional factors, such as the creation of the Swedish Empire, Stockholm's trading rights, and a protective industrial policy, amplified this exceptional pattern.

中文翻译：

---

在马尔萨斯和工业起飞之间：1571–1850年瑞典的地区不平等

经济增长过程中区域不平等的原因和程度是历史经济研究的核心。到目前为止，人们已经集中精力研究工业化在推动区域差异中的作用。但是，对意大利和西班牙等相对不平等的国家进行的经验研究表明，在现代工业化之初，不平等现象已经很严重。本文使用对瑞典区域GDP的新估算，首次探讨了工业化前欧洲经济中的区域不平等。它的发现表明，不平等在1571年至1750年之间急剧增加，并且一直持续到19世纪中叶。这一结果驳斥了传统观点，即工业起飞是区域差异的主要驱动力。分解泰尔人均GDP指数，我们发现，自1750年以来的大部分不平等是由部门之间的结构差异而不是部门内部不同的区域生产力所驱动的。我们发现，农业生产率较高的县在经历技术进步时遵循经典的马尔萨斯式格局，而工业生产率较高的县则没有。我们建议，瑞典帝国的建立，斯德哥尔摩的贸易权以及保护性的工业政策等制度性因素会放大这种特殊的模式。而那些具有较高工业生产率的企业则没有。我们建议，瑞典帝国的建立，斯德哥尔摩的贸易权以及保护性的工业政策等制度性因素会放大这种特殊的模式。而那些具有较高工业生产率的企业则没有。我们建议，瑞典帝国的建立，斯德哥尔摩的贸易权以及保护性的工业政策等制度性因素会放大这种特殊的模式。