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Financialization and the New Swedish Model

The rapid growth of the financial system and its dominance over the non-financial economy has given rise to ample re-regulation on a national and supernational level, across the globe. This "financialisation" is a process in which the economy is increasingly shaped by the practical logics and dynamics of financial markets. In the project, knowledge of policy relevance is sought through empirical study of the relationship between the non-financial and the financial sectors of the economy.

Background and research questions:

  • What is the stability and sustainability the Swedish economy, a critical case of finance-dominated economy?
  • How should we conceptualize, measure and model, in terms of investment patters and actors’ logic of action, the drivers of and preconditions for economic growth in the Swedish economy?
  • What politico-economic structures and strategies enable and constrain economic policy-making the Swedish economy?
  • What is the best possible interdisciplinary understanding of the conditions for an effective macro regulation of the economy?

Research approach:

These questions are studied through a retroductive process of surveys of academic literature, analysis of descriptive statistics and document analysis in line with critical realist philosophy.

Key findings:

  • Sweden has undergone a significant process of financialization, disregarded or underplayed in much other academic literature, as shown in this journal article.
  • Financialization has generated significant politicization of macroeconomic regulation and administrative crisis in the Swedish state, as shown in this journal article.

Further information:

The project has received no particular funding.