Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960

Before industrialisation the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) were part of Europe's poor periphery, but over the last century these countries have become some of the richest in the world. This article analyses the origins of Nordic growth from the late nineteenth century,...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Enflo, Kerstin, Álvarez Palau, Eduard, Martí Henneberg, Jordi
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión enviada para evaluación y publicación
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Recursos:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
Repositorio:Repositori Obert UdL
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/65408
Acesso em linha:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2018.05.001
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/65408
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Regional inequality
Railways
Historical GIS
Population growth
Economic growth
Nordic countries
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spelling Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960Enflo, KerstinÁlvarez Palau, EduardMartí Henneberg, JordiRegional inequalityRailwaysHistorical GISPopulation growthEconomic growthNordic countriesBefore industrialisation the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) were part of Europe's poor periphery, but over the last century these countries have become some of the richest in the world. This article analyses the origins of Nordic growth from the late nineteenth century, focusing on a previously neglected topic: the role of transportation. We argue that transportation, and most notably large investments in railways, played a key role in Nordic industrialisation. Railways made the exploitation and exportation of natural resources possible in what had previously been isolated areas and helped fuel a process of rural-based industrialisation. By creating conditions that favoured migration towards previously scarcely populated, but economically booming areas, Nordic industrialisation was paralleled by a reduction in regional inequality as measured in per capita GDP. We assert that railways were built before local population growth and helped shape the economic landscape of the entire region. We illustrate these points using maps based on Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS) highlighting railways, regional GDP and population densities from the mid nineteenth century until 1960.We are thankful to participants in the Studying GDP RegionalImbalances for a Better Longterm Analysis of European lntegration seminar for their useful comments and suggestions. We are also thankful to the three anonymous referees and to the editor Miles Ogborn for valuable comments on how to improve the manuscript. Enflo acknowledges financial support from Knut and Alice Wallenberg's Foundation (KAW2014.0138). This research has also been financed by the Spanish Ministry for the Economy and Competitiveness (CSO2015-65733-P), ICREA-Academia and the EU (Jean Monnet 586912-EPP-1-2017-1-ES-EPPJMO-PROJECT). The seminars held in Barcelona were financed by the Monnet Studying GDP Regional Imbalances for a Better Long-term Analysis of European integration.Elsevier2018info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersionhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2018.05.001http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/65408reponame:Repositori Obert UdL instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)Inglésinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//CSO2015-65733-PVersió preprint del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2018.05.001Journal of Historical Geography, 2018, vol. 62, p. 51-70(c) Elsevier, 2018info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/654082026-06-24T12:42:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960
title Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960
spellingShingle Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960
Enflo, Kerstin
Regional inequality
Railways
Historical GIS
Population growth
Economic growth
Nordic countries
title_short Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960
title_full Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960
title_fullStr Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960
title_full_unstemmed Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960
title_sort Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Enflo, Kerstin
Álvarez Palau, Eduard
Martí Henneberg, Jordi
author Enflo, Kerstin
author_facet Enflo, Kerstin
Álvarez Palau, Eduard
Martí Henneberg, Jordi
author_role author
author2 Álvarez Palau, Eduard
Martí Henneberg, Jordi
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Regional inequality
Railways
Historical GIS
Population growth
Economic growth
Nordic countries
topic Regional inequality
Railways
Historical GIS
Population growth
Economic growth
Nordic countries
description Before industrialisation the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) were part of Europe's poor periphery, but over the last century these countries have become some of the richest in the world. This article analyses the origins of Nordic growth from the late nineteenth century, focusing on a previously neglected topic: the role of transportation. We argue that transportation, and most notably large investments in railways, played a key role in Nordic industrialisation. Railways made the exploitation and exportation of natural resources possible in what had previously been isolated areas and helped fuel a process of rural-based industrialisation. By creating conditions that favoured migration towards previously scarcely populated, but economically booming areas, Nordic industrialisation was paralleled by a reduction in regional inequality as measured in per capita GDP. We assert that railways were built before local population growth and helped shape the economic landscape of the entire region. We illustrate these points using maps based on Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS) highlighting railways, regional GDP and population densities from the mid nineteenth century until 1960.
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersion
format article
status_str submittedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2018.05.001
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/65408
url https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2018.05.001
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/65408
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//CSO2015-65733-P
Versió preprint del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2018.05.001
Journal of Historical Geography, 2018, vol. 62, p. 51-70
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv (c) Elsevier, 2018
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv (c) Elsevier, 2018
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositori Obert UdL
instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
instname_str Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
reponame_str Repositori Obert UdL
collection Repositori Obert UdL
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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