The Politics of Growth

Mats Benner’s book The Politics of Growth presents a synoptic view of Swedish policies of economic growth, from the emergence of the Swedish model in the 1930s up to entering the European Union in the 1990s.

Most studies of the Swedish model have focused on the welfare state, economic redistribution and the structure of the labour market. This book analyzes the politics of economic growth, the policies that in the Swedish context have enabled and complemented socio-political strategies of redistribution as well as the development of a well organized and rather peaceful labour market.

The central theme in this book is the modern capitalist interdependence between the regulation of economic growth, employment and redistribution. Theoretically this work builds on modern and classical macrosociology, policy analysis and regulation theory.

The rich and detailed empirical analysis deals with Swedish growth policies in their institutional variations and drastic reorientations over time. Benner’s book is an important contribution to the literature on the Swedish socio-economic model of development.

Mats Benner is a sociologist at Lund University, Sweden.